HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
FEATURED ARTICLE
by demand from real estate investors, according to Lyszczarz as well as ATTOM owner-occupancy data, which shows that 35 percent of all single family homes purchased in New Jersey in 2016 were sold to non-owner occupants (investors) — the highest share in the last 20 years for which the data is available. This trend in rising real estate investor demand also shows up at the foreclosure auction, where 17.7 percent of homes sold at auction in New Jersey went to third party investors rather than back to the foreclosing lender — the highest share going to investors since 2006, according to ATTOM foreclosure deed data. Lyszczarz said his brokerage has worked with several large institutional investors purchasing investment properties over the past few years, but those investors are starting to divest their portfolios — a cause for some concern. “These are national, billion dollar hedge funds,” he said, explaining that the companies are approaching his brokerage to sell these properties on the regular retail market, not through portfolio sales to other investors. “I have no insight into the motivation behind it, but I do know that the trend was acquisition a few years ago; now the (trend) is divesting. … I’m not sure what they’re seeing in the market that’s causing them to do that.” Waiting for the Music to Stop More than 1,200 miles south in Cape Coral, Florida, real estate broker Marc Joseph,
Median Home Prices Now Versus Then 2015 2011 2006 2016
$354,800
$320,000
$400,000
$350,000
$270,000
$250,100
$300,000
$228,500
$218,175
$219,000
$250,000
$185,000
$200,000
$150,000
$100,000
$50,000
$0
Florida
New Jersey
New York
U.S.
These are national, billion dollar hedge funds. I have no insight into the motivation behind it, but I do know that the trend was acquisition a few years ago; now the (trend) is divesting. … I’m not sure what they’re seeing in the market that’s causing them to do that.”
Rob Lyszczarz | President, RE/MAX Properties Unlimited Westfield, New Jersey
is also due to affordability constraints holding back home prices.
Still, home sales volume is on the increase in New Jersey, according to ATTOM data. Home sales through September (the latest month with complete data statewide) show the state is on track to hit a 10-year high in home sales volume for 2016, up 9 percent from 2015 following a 12 percent year-over- year increase in sales volume in 2015. Institutional Investors Divesting That rising sales volume combined with the doubling of agents in his brokerage over the past two years has been driven largely
“New Jersey is a state that is dealing with some significant challenges for homebuyers,” said Lyszczarz, whose brokerage has nearly doubled in size to 200 agents over the last two years despite the sluggish growth in home prices. “It all comes down to affordability. My lenders are telling me that the biggest issue they are having is first time homebuyers having too much student loan debt.”
ATTOM Data Solutions • P6
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter