It is not any surprise that the week of December 12 -18, 2010 showed a decrease in the number of new pending home sales across 8 NJ towns. This week until New Years will probably be weak because of the holiday season.

Many real estate professionals are trying to finish a closing before the end of the year for their clients. Everyone else is either getting in the Christmas spirit, the New Year’s festivities, or taking their end-of-year slow down and break.

There were 24 new NJ Pending Home Sales from December 12- December 18  compared to 40 last week. This is the complete breakdown of pending home sales during this week divided between the 8 towns we follow:
Livingston = 5
Maplewood = 3
Millburn/Short Hills = 2
Montclair = 4
Nutley = 1
South Orange = 3
Verona = 0
West Orange = 6

The inventory levels for all the towns are hovering around the same as last week. Although most towns added 1 to 5 more listings there are not any big changes. Here’s are the total number of residential homes on the market as of December 18:
Livingston = 90
Maplewood = 117
Millburn/Short Hills = 79
Montclair = 131
Nutley = 154
South Orange = 116
Verona = 83
West Orange = 328

All numbers were obtained through the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS). The GSMLS is the primary website used by real estate agents to promote their listings to other real estate agents and the public. This does not include homes for sale by private sellers or the full array of new construction.