Jersey Shore gears up for real estate rebound this summer

Massive rebuilding has upgraded the area, brokers say

Sandy-damaged home in Mantoloking, New Jersey (Credit: Shutterstock)
Sandy-damaged home in Mantoloking, New Jersey (Credit: Shutterstock)

Nearly two years after Hurricane Sandy tore apart the Jersey Shore, brokers in the newly rebuilt area are expecting a turnaround in business.

Residential developers have transformed the small homesteads along the Sandy-ravaged shoreline into wealthy-worthy homes fit for New York City’s deep-pocketed summering elite, brokers say.

The rising prices reflect the high cost of rebuilding in a hazardous area, where homes must be elevated and outfitted with expensive hurricane-proof windows and breakaway walls designed to inflict minimal damage to the foundation in the event of a storm, according to the New York Times.

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“At the end of the day, we’re going to be in a better spot,” Eric Birchler, owner of Birchler Realtors, told the Times. “You just stepped the entire gentrification of Ortley Beach forward five years because everything had to be rebuilt.”

Communities have also upgraded beaches, boardwalks and retail properties, giving rich residents all the more reason to come, industry insiders told the Times. With this in mind, brokers in wrecked communities are predicting a far stronger rental season than last summer’s, which continued to feel the pinch from the 2012 storm’s damage. [NYT]Angela Hunt

(Sandy-damaged home photo from Shutterstock)