Continuing on the heels of a busy January, the local real estate market is showing signs of increasing activity during the first half of February. 

So far this month, six homes have gone under contract, ranging in price from $749,000 to $1.5 million. These homes were on the market for an average of 79.5 days before a contract was signed, which is somewhat longer than the average during the last few months. The median price of these homes is $950,000.

There have been three homes that have gone from contract to sale so far in February. They are 408 Wyoming Ave., which sold for $535,000; 100 Oakview Terrace, which sold for $781,000; and 315 Lupine Way, which sold for $969,000. These homes sold at an average of 99 percent of the asking price and were on the market an average of 55 days before going under contract.

February has seen 17 new homes come on the market in the first 11 days of the month. This is a slight increase over the amount of new inventory we have seen in recent months. At present there are 87 homes marketed on the Garden State Multiple Listing Service.  It is interesting to note that eight of these new listings are being marketed at over $1.5 million and three of those are over the $3 million mark. There are nine new homes under $1 million, which has remained a fairly strong segment of the market.

As always, sellers continue to need to refine their expectations in pricing their homes.  So far this month, nine home sellers have become more aggressive with their pricing, dropping their prices on average 5.9 percent.