New Jersey real estate agent, Amanda Cruz, had just submitted an offer on behalf of her client that came in $150,000 above the asking price. It was a bold move and she second-guessed herself the moment she hit send.
Then the seller called back, someone else had come in higher. Not a little higher. Significantly higher and with cash. Her client had stretched well past what they were comfortable with and wasn’t even in the conversation.
Cruz shared the story on social media, and it went viral almost immediately. Because every person who has tried to buy a home in New Jersey in the last two years recognized exactly what she was describing.
Other agents in Monmouth County and the Shore region are reporting bidding wars as the norm. Some listings are receiving 20 or more offers. Inventory remains well below pre-pandemic levels, meaning there simply aren’t enough homes to meet the demand flooding in.
This is the NJ housing market in 2026.
While national headlines are reporting a sluggish, stalling real estate market, New Jersey is operating in a completely different reality.
According to Cotality, a national property analytics firm, NJ home prices climbed nearly 6% in early 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier. This makes New Jersey the single top-performing state in the entire country.
The national average over that same period is just 0.5%.
Thirteen states are currently seeing home price declines. Florida, the state that spent several years luring away NJ residents with promises of no income tax and warm winters, dropped more than 2%. Texas is cooling. Phoenix and Austin — the pandemic darlings of the real estate world — have fallen to the bottom of the national market rankings.
A Construction Coverage analysis of Redfin data ranked NJ the second hottest real estate market in the country overall, behind only Connecticut. Seven of the top ten hottest states are in the Northeast.
Newark, specifically, recorded a 6.7% year-over-year price jump in February – the steepest increase among the 100 largest metros in the entire United States. Ahead of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Nearly 47% of New Jersey single family homes are currently selling above asking price. The median home sale price hit $545,700 in March 2026, up 4% from the previous year. The national median price is $408,800.
Cruz posted about her experience as a realtor and the response was immediate:
It is being said that high-wage workers in finance, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology are leaving New York City and Hoboken in large numbers. They are bringing their serious purchasing power with them. They want more space, better schools, and access to the Shore — but they also need that train to the city.
Much of New Jersey checks every box.
The result is that local buyers trying to move up within their own communities are now competing against deep-pocketed city transplants, many of whom are waving all-cash offers. For a longtime Jersey resident trying to buy their next home, it’s an incredibly frustrating market.
For someone who already owns here? The math is working strongly in their favor.
If you bought your New Jersey home 10, 15, or 20 years ago, you are sitting on an asset that a significant number of people would get into a bidding war over today. There are some cities that are really coming in hot too.
Per Redfin, the most competitive cities include:
- Tinton Falls
- Summit
- Basking Ridge
- Chatham
- Lincroft
- Barclay
- Blackwells Mills
- New Providence
- Strathmore
- The Hills
Home prices in the state remain roughly 80% above pre-COVID levels, and analysts are not forecasting a crash. The underlying drivers — tight inventory, strong demand, and a steady stream of high-income buyers relocating from the city — aren’t going away anytime soon.
The broader national market is stalling. Rising mortgage rates, economic uncertainty, and softening demand are putting the brakes on real estate activity in much of the country.
New Jersey is largely insulated from that trend because the demand here isn’t coming from people chasing affordability — it’s coming from people who are priced out of New York City and still have plenty of money to spend.
For first-time buyers and longtime Jersey residents trying to move, it’s tough, really tough.
When offers $150,000 over asking aren’t winning, when inventory is tight, and when all-cash offers are the competition, the average New Jersey family is at a real disadvantage. Real estate professionals are already sounding the alarm that the average buyer is being priced out of Jersey suburbs – communities many of them grew up in.
This is a tension that’s worth watching as 2026 unfolds.
