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New Jersey Home Prices Head for 12% Drop on Bottom-Feeder Feast

New Jersey Home Prices Head for 12% Drop on Bottom-Feeder Feast

(Bloomberg) -- The housing market in New Jersey is about to get crushed.

Home sales in the state, second only to New York in coronavirus cases, may fall as much as 45% this year from 2019, while prices will drop as much as 12%, according to Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation, a real estate consultant in Matawan, New Jersey.

“People will be taking homes off the market and in spite of that, this will be a buyer’s market, with low inventory,” Otteau said. “It’s unusual.”

Getting a sale will require a deep discount, maybe 20% below what the seller was planning to list for, he said.

“If you don’t need to sell now, take your house off the market and re-evaluate in the fall or next spring,” he said. “If you do go to the market now, there will be a price for that. The price will be that you’ll be at the mercy of bottom-feeders.”

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