Jersey Shore bottoms out

Housing prices at the Jersey Shore are finally bottoming out, according to brokers and economists, cited by The New York Times. A recent surge of activity has sales up 15 percent over the first quarter of last year. Brokerages like Avalon Real Estate and Childers Sotheby’s International Realty are showing their strongest numbers since the recession.

Prices are down too, some 3.5 percent compared to March 2011. “The high-end real estate has come down to where people are getting back into it. The one-percenters have the money, and they’re seeing there are good deals out there” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors of Holland, Pa. and Jersey Shore homeowner, said.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the housing market at the Jersey Shore has been stabilizing over the last year and heading towards a solid bottom. Yet some are still hesitant to declare the market stable. “We’re still experiencing some drifting downward, particularly in the upper end,” Lee Childers, broker-owner of Childers Sotheby’s, said. “There’s still plenty of seven-figure stuff sitting on the market.” [NYT]