Realtors: Market ‘normal’
By LEE PROCIDA
The Cherry Hill Sun
4/4/2008

In spite of discouraging national real estate news, local Realtors say they have seen worse

While the daily national news is filled with discouraging data about the housing market and its dangerous consequences for the nation’s economy, local Realtors say the Camden County area has remained relatively stable in the wake of turmoil elsewhere.

“You look on the TV and the numbers are scary,” said Alla Harney, a Realtor with Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors in Moorestown, “but it’s not even close to what’s going on in this market.”

Statistics are certainly not as strong as last year. In Cherry Hill, 15 homes were sold in March at an average price of approximately $310,000 after being on the market for 98 days, according to Trend MLS statistics. Last year, 45 homes were sold in March at an approximate average of $380,600 after 79 days on the market.

The most recent statistics also indicate that 200 fewer homes were sold in Camden County than at this point last year, while the median sale price is relatively the same.

But veteran Realtors say the current state of the market is not nearly the worst they have seen.

“I have been a Realtor for 33 years,” said Debbie Allen from Weichert Realtors in Evesham, “and as most seasoned agents will tell you, this market is not as bad as the early 1980s market when the phone literally didn’t ring for a year.”

Many area Realtors predict the market will stabilize sometime in the near future, with prices likely to continue declining until then.

“We were living in fantasyland for a while there,” said Mark McKenna with Pat McKenna Realtors. “It’s back to a normal real estate market now.”

“I think we haven’t hit bottom yet, but you can’t look to time it right.”

Harney and McKenna said they are bullish on this region for many reasons.

A diversified job market and a mostly primary residential area, which is largely made up of homes being resold, are the main reasons they attributed to this strength.

They said the people on the market who are waiting months or years to sell their homes are simply not pricing their homes realistically, and that nothing is more important when it comes to selling a home than the price.

“It’s really pretty simple,” McKenna said. “Pricing sells houses.”

“Have prices gone down? Absolutely. Does it take longer to sell? Absolutely. But is it going to sell if it’s priced right? Absolutely,” Harney said.

Dave Lewis, president of the Burlington and Camden County Association of Realtors, and owner of B.T. Edgar & Son Realtors in Moorestown, said the national news drives down consumer confidence, but that the national statistics have little to do with the market in South Jersey.

“I would consider us a normal market,” he said. “It’s not going to be real busy, but it’s not going to be real slow.”

Lewis, who just returned from vacation last week and spent a whole day returning phone calls left for him while he was gone, already expects the market to pick up again this spring.