October and the Princeton Residential Real Estate Market

Posted on by syltrow
  

As with most of this year, absorption was the recurring theme in October. The Average Days on Market was only 40 days – a -25% decrease (40 vs. 53) compared to the same time last year. Units Sold were up slightly (+4%, 25 vs. 24) and Units Pended increased +21% (29 vs. 24), while Units Listed were down -19% (25 vs. 31) compared to October 2020. Given the incredible sales velocity, it is interesting to note that the Average Sale Price (ASP) was -15% lower in October 2021 versus October 2020 ($1,041,842 vs. $1,229,236). Let’s take a closer look at the composition Units Sold to see why that might be the case. 

 

On the surface there doesn’t appear to be a significant difference between the sales-by-price-point from 2020 to 2021. When you look more closely at the sales data, the difference in +$2M sales are what drove the remarkable decrease in ASP. In October 2021, the two +$2M sales were $2,100,000 and $2,225,000, whereas in October 2020, the two sales +$2M were $3,106,00 and $3,850,000. Without the +$2M sales, the ASP for October 2021 would have been $944,394 and $1,024,803 for October 2020 – only a -7.85% decrease (almost half). Another telling metric is the median sale price, which only experienced a -1% decrease ($950,000 vs $962,500) from 2020 to 2021.   

Now let’s compare October 2021 data to pre-pandemic October 2019 to see if there are any remarkable nuggets of information.  

 

Like the October 2021 vs. October 2020 comparison, the Days on Market is the most striking difference (-30%, 40 vs. 57) as is Units Pended (+32%, 29 vs. 22). Everything else is pretty much in line. Again, highlighting the absorption trend. The October 2019 sales-by-price-point was also very similar with October 2021 having almost the exact same sales composition.  

   

How does Princeton look year-to-date? January-October 2021, Units Sold were up (+36%, 312 vs. 229) as were Units Listed (+15%, 410 vs. 358). The ASP was also higher (+11%, $1,169,975 vs. $1,054,292) while DOM decreased materially (-34%, 47 vs. 71) compared to January-October of 2020. Additionally, through October 2021 the minimum sale price was $72,760 compared to $60,500 last year and the maximum sale price was $3,700,000 versus $3,850,000 during the same time last year. In summary, the 2021 year-to-date data shows that more properties sold more quickly than during the same period last year. 

If you compare January-October 2021 to January-October 2019, Units Sold were up (+23%, 312 vs. 253) and Units Listed decreased (-4%, 410 vs. 425). The ASP was higher (+14%, $1,176,127 vs. $1,030,692) while DOM decreased significantly (-35%, 47 vs. 72) compared to January-October of 2019. The minimum sale price was $29,990 and the maximum sale price was $3,000,000 during the same period. So comparing October 2021 to October 2019 is not too dissimilar to October 2020 as it once was earlier this year when the data was wonky because of shut-down related issues.  

So what is happening now? There are currently 59 Active Units on the market between $329,000 and $8,500,000 and 24 properties that are Active Under Contract between $549,000 and $12,000,000. There are also 28 Pending Units between $395,000 and $2,975,000. Lastly, 12 new listings have been introduced thus far in November ($549,000 – $1,195,000) and 3 are now Under Contract.   

As always, we are super curious to see what the next couple of months will bring. Speaking of curious, if you are thinking about buying or selling your home or want to learn more about Princeton area real estate market statistics, feel free to email us!  Sig & Syl