October 14, 2018
Two years ago, Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams Realty, predicted that there would be a market shift in real estate sales by the middle of 2018. Many people had signed up 
in our real estate school precisely because they had heard that becoming a licensed real estate agent was the road to instant riches.
Now we are seeing that shift Keller predicted two years ago starting to materialize. The table below shows in the first 9 months, prices in all three South Jersey counties served by Garden State Real Estate Academy have ticked up so slightly year-on-year that they are essentially flat. In every case, however, the time it takes to sell a home has dropped. They are selling 18% faster in Burlington and Camden counties and 7% quicker in Gloucester.
This shorter selling time led to somewhat of an inventory shortage earlier in 2018, and this is reflected in the average percentage of the original list price at which homes sold.
In our real estate agent pre-licensing classes in South Jersey, we often talk to students about the real-world of real estate career in addition to how they can pass the state real estate exam. In those moments of reality, we point out that believing in averages can be a trap. For example, in the Medford, Marlton, Moorestown real estate markets, homes in the $250-375K price range are selling at an extremely fast pace. Yet homes priced over $600,000 are just sitting there, unable to even attract many showings. Furthermore, most of the quicker sales and price growth occurred earlier in the year, with sales in the 3rd quarter significantly underperforming how they did in the first half of 2018
| Burlington County | Camden County | Gloucester County | ||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Avg sale price | $227,900 | $232,843 | $183,495 | $187,197 | $190,640 | $191,222 |
| Avg marketing period | 91 days | 77 days | 94 days | 80 days | 93 days | 87 days |
| Avg % of orig list price | 95.5% | 96.6% | 92.5% | 93.5% | 93.0% | 93.7% |
If you are interested in becoming a New Jersey real estate agent—or in earning your NJ broker’s license—check out Garden State Real Estate Academy’s courses at https://gsreacademy.com/ or call us at 609.923.0590
David C. Forward is a licensed real estate broker and instructor and was first licensed as a Realtor® 30 years ago. He is School Director of Garden Real Estate Academy, has won numerous awards for real estate sales, is a much-requested public speaker who has addressed audiences on six continents and is the author of 13 books. David can be reached at Support@GSREacademy.com
