By Mike Lentz | The Mike Lentz Team – Keller Williams Realty
Yes. Nationally, pending home sales are running ahead of the past two years, even with mortgage rates above 6%. In South Jersey, pending sales are actually below last year, but closed sales rose in Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties, homes are selling in about 13 to 16 days, and more than half still close over list price. Motivated buyers are here.
Despite higher mortgage rates, buyer demand has held up better than the headlines suggest, both nationally and here in South Jersey. If you’ve been considering selling your home but worried about buyer activity, the latest data reveals a different story than what many headlines suggest.
If you’ve been thinking about selling, you’ve probably seen plenty of headlines suggesting buyers have disappeared. But there’s a big difference between a slow market and a stalled one.
Yes, mortgage rates are still higher than most people would like. Homes aren’t selling as fast as they were a few years ago. And every week brings another headline about buyers sitting on the sidelines. But here’s what you haven’t heard.
Despite everything going on, buyer demand has been remarkably resilient.
Nationally, more sellers are getting to put up the “pending sale” sign now than during the last two years. What’s even more surprising is that they’re doing it at a time of year when activity usually starts to slow down.
If you’re thinking about selling in Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, or Cumberland counties, that’s a trend worth paying attention to.
Pending Home Sales Show Buyers Are Still Active Nationally
One of the best ways to measure buyer demand is by looking at pending home sales. Those are homes that have gone under contract but haven’t closed yet. Think of them as a real-time pulse check on the market and whether buyers are still buying.
HousingWire Data shows more homes are going under contract nationally than at the same time the past two years (see graph below):
While it may come as a surprise, the numbers speak for themselves. It doesn’t mean buyers are everywhere, but it does mean they’re still active right now. And even if this ebbs and flows a bit in the weeks ahead, right now we’re ahead of where we’ve been lately. That’s encouraging news if you’re thinking about selling because it tells us something important.
People haven’t stopped buying homes. Serious buyers are still making moves.
What Pending Home Sales Look Like Across South Jersey
Here is the honest local picture. That HousingWire data is national, and our market is not a carbon copy of it. Through June 2026, pending sales across South Jersey were actually running below last year in all five of our counties, from about 1% lower in Camden and Salem to roughly 17% lower in Cumberland.
But pending sales are only one gauge, and the rest of our local data tells a more encouraging story. Closed sales in June were up 8.3% year over year in Salem County, 4.9% in Camden, and 3.1% in Gloucester. Homes are still moving quickly, averaging 13 days on market in Gloucester, 14 in Camden, and 16 in Burlington. And more than half of all sales closed above asking price in both Gloucester (52.4%) and Camden (55.4%).
In other words, buyers here are active and they are closing. The pipeline of homes going under contract is just thinner than it was a year ago, which makes pricing and presentation matter more than they did last summer.
For the full picture in your county, see our county market reports for Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties.
Many of these people are buying because they decided they can’t keep waiting. From growing families to new jobs, retirement plans, or simply wanting a different home, life keeps moving, even when mortgage rates stay higher than we’d like. As Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), explains:
“A late spring buyer rush – even with mortgage rates not budging – is an indication of pent-up housing demand and consumers’ acceptance of above-6% mortgage rates as the new normal.”
So, if you’ve been worried no one’s buying, this data should give you some confidence. Today’s buyers aren’t just casually browsing open houses on a Sunday afternoon. They’ve spent months waiting for rates to improve and now they realize they can’t wait anymore.
That means they have a purpose and a timeline. And that’s exactly the kind of motivated buyer you want to work with.
What Pending Home Sales Mean for Your Sale
Does that mean every house will sell instantly? No.
Today’s market is more balanced than it was a few years ago. You can’t just price your house however you want or skip preparing it for the market.
Buyers have choices now, and they’re willing to wait for the right home at the right price. But sellers who understand today’s market and price and position their homes right are still finding success. Because the idea that “no one’s buying right now” just isn’t supported by the data.
The buyers are there.
The opportunity is there.
The key is having the right strategy to capture it.
Positioning Your Home to Attract Today’s Motivated Buyers
This year’s housing market may be moving slower than many of us hoped. But buyer demand is more resilient than the headlines suggest, and the national pending home sales data, along with our own closed sales here in South Jersey, confirms that motivated buyers are still making moves.
If you’re wondering whether there are enough buyers for your house, the answer is yes. But you need to meet them where they are. That means realistic pricing from day one, not testing the market high and adjusting later. It means presenting your home in its best condition. And it means working with someone who understands how the current market works in your specific county.
If you want to talk through what this means for your situation, schedule a quick call and we’ll walk through it together.
