Essex County Housing Report January 2025, 2/20/2025
Bottom Line:
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose for the 4th month in a row. January 12 month CPI rose by 3.0% and 12 month Core Inflation rose by 3.3%, well above the Federal Reserves 2% goal. This has helped keep mortgage rates elevated at the 7% level. 30 year conforming mortgage rates closed today at 6.96% per Mortgage News Daily.
Winter Seasonality in our local Real Estate market pushed down the number of active listings, sold units and sale prices from December 2024. This resulted in a rising months inventory for: Single Family, 1.5 months; Condos, 1.8 months; 2-4 Unit Multi-Family, 1.5 months. However, a balanced real estate market is 6 months of inventory, indicating an extreme shortage of housing units for sale in Essex County which is largely caused by the disparity between a homeowners existing low mortgage rate and today’s 7% rate (76.6% of existing mortgages are below 5%).
Year over Year, January prices rose from last year for Single Family, +5.9%; Condo, +4.2%; and 2-4 Unit Multi-Family, +18.4% as demand for housing exceeds supply.
To view data for every Essex County town,
- To view data for every Essex County town, http://www.sullivanteam.com/Properties/Reports/Public/Charts.php
- To Download the full housing report go to: http://sullivanteam.com/pages/EssexCountyHousingReports
