January 2024 Market Watch

January, 2024

2023 Bridgewater Real Estate Review

    There were 394 homes sold in Bridgewater during 2023, down 21.4 percent from 501 in 2022. The large majority, 272 or 69.1 percent were single family units. The remaining 122, or 30.9 percent were condos or town homes. Homes sold last year represented approximately 1.7 percent of the total households in the Township.

53.3 percent of the homes sold (210) last year, sold during the July to December time period. The remaining 46.7 percent (184) sold during the first half of the year. During the first half of 2023, 45.1 percent (55) of all town homes were sold, compared to 47.4 (129) percent of single family homes. From July through December, 52.6 percent (143) of all single family homes were sold, while 54.9 percent (67) of town homes sold during the same time frame.

For the year 2023, the average selling price for a home (condo, town home, single family) was $652,221. That is an increase of approximately 10.7 percent from the 2022 figure of $589,299. Similarly, the median selling price for 2023 jumped 11.8 percent, going from $550,000 in 2022 to $615,000 this past year. During just December 2023, the average selling price for a home was $663,896 and the median price was $672,500. The average price was a 14.1 percent increase over the 2022 December price of $581,821, while the median price jumped 20.7 percent over the prior December median price of $557,000.

Yearly price gains came in all room sized homes. For homes with five plus bedrooms, the average price for the year jumped 9.3 percent, going from $915,629 in 2022 to $1,001,121 for 2023. The median price showed a much smaller increase, increasing only 1.3 percent from $881,000 in 2022 to $892,500 in 2023. During only December 2023, the average and median price for a five plus bedroom home was the same at $862,000. That is a significant increase from the December 2022 average and median price of $788,250 (9.4 percent) and $725,500 (18.9 percent).

     Homes with four bedrooms also showed yearly gains. The average selling price for a four bedroom home during 2023 was $761,393, an increase of 8.6 percent from the average 2022 price of $700,579. The median price jumped 7.6 percent, going from $697,050 during 2022 to $750.000 during 2023. During December 2023, a four bedroom home had an average selling price of $864,667 and a mean selling price of $838,000. That is a 29.4 percent increase from the December 2022 average selling price of $668.100 and a 29.9 percent increase in the median selling price of $645,000.

    Three bedroom homes continued the trend with an average selling price of $557,974 during 2023, a 12.2 percent increase from the 2022 average selling price of $497,522, while the median price increased 10.6 percent, going from $500,000 during 2022 to $553,000 this past year. In the month of December 2023, the average selling price was $630,500, compared to $525,806 the December prior, a 19.9 percent increase. The median price in December increased 21.8 percent, from $542,500 in 2022 to $661,000 in 2023.

For two bedroom homes (mostly condos and town homes) the average selling price in 2023 was $402,069, an increase of 15.5 percent over the 2022 figure of $348,044. The median selling price showed a 11.6 percent rise, going from $345,000 during 2022 to $385,000 during 2023. At the end of 2023, the average price for a two bedroom home in Bridgewater was $433,944 increasing 31.2 percent from $330,833 in December 2022. The median price also increased. The December 2023 median price was $410,000, increasing 32.2 percent from the 2022 price was $310,000.

The time homes stayed on market, or days on market (DOM), increased slightly from 2022 to 2023. DOM refers to the time a home is first listed till it finishes the attorney review period. It does not mean till the closing date. During 2022, the average days on market was 27. This average increased to 29 during 2023. This compares to 2020 when DOM was 47 days. Days on market for five plus bedroom homes increased from 41 in 2022 to 45 in 2023. Four bedroom homes stayed the same at 28 days. Days on market for three bedroom homes decreased from 25 in 2022 to 23, while two bedroom homes saw its time on market jump from 21 days in 2022 up to 26 days. During December of 2023, DOM for all homes stood at 25, a slight decrease from the 2022 DOM of 26.

Sale price to list price (SP/LP) remained the same between 2023 and 2022 at 103 percent. Sale price to original list price (SP/OLP) showed gains between 2022 and 2023. Homes sold at 102 percent of old list price (SP/OLP) during 2023, compared to 98 percent during 2022. This compares to 99 percent during 2020. Most bedroom groups saw an increase in SP/LP, with only two bedroom homes showing a decline at 103 percent in 2023 versus 104 percent in 2022. Four bedroom homes stayed the same at 103 percent for both 2023 and 2022. Three bedroom homes jumped from 103 percent in 2022 to 105 percent in 2023, while five plus bedroom homes increased from 101 percent in 2022 to 102 percent in 2023.

Two and four bedroom homes showed a decrease in SP/OLP. Both segments went from 103 percent in 2022 to 102 percent in 2023. Three bedroom homes increased from 102 percent in 2022, to 104 percent in 2023, while five bedroom plus homes jumped from 83 percent in 2022 to 101 percent in 2023.

During the last month of 2022 and 2023, SP/LP and SP/OLP showed a gain. SP/LP was 101 percent in 2022 increasing to 104 percent in December 2023. SP/OLP saw a similar increase jumping from 100 percent to 102 percent. Three and four bedroom homes sold at the highest SP/LP ratio at 106 and 104 percent respectively. Two bedroom homes sold at 103 percent for SP/LP while five bedroom homes sold at 99 percent. For SP/OLP, two bedroom homes sold at 102 percent, three bedrooms at 105 percent, and four and five bedrooms at 102 percent and 99 percent respectively.

At the end of 2023, the supply of available homes was 1.14 month’s supply. This compares to .91 month’s supply at the end of 2022, .43 month’s supply at the end of 2021, .73 month’s supply at the end of 2020, and 2.68 month’s supply at the end of 2019. The importance of month’s supply of available homes has been discussed at length in Market Watch. Month’s supply is a key contributor to the seller’s market that has characterized the Bridgewater housing market for the past 50 or so months. And it will continue to overshadow the market unless a significant amount of homes are made available for resale or built. Remember, a balanced market, where the supply of homes matches the demand for homes, has a five to six month’s worth of available homes. Right now we are far from balancing that equation.