Visual story

How long homes sit

Each strip is a county, each sliver a month since mid-2016, and the colour how long its listings waited against that county’s own usual wait: blue slower than usual, orange faster, darker the further from it. Watch the whole state turn orange together in 2021, and stay orange since: homes that used to sit two months now sell in weeks. Union’s homes sell fastest, a median 39 days; Cape May’s slowest, 72.

Slower than the county’s usualFaster

Fastest month on record: Union 22 days (2024-05); Essex 24 days (2021-05); Morris 18 days (2022-05).

Realtor.com’s median days on market, monthly, from list date to pending, sold or withdrawn, as FRED republishes it (copyright Realtor.com, which FRED marks “citation required”). Realtor.com changed its method in December 2021 and October 2022 and restated its history each time, so the series is consistent with itself. Each band is 15 days; three bands is 45 days or more from the county’s usual wait. More visual stories →