North Jersey is Reaching Buildout

This is a very informative article about land scarcity in NJ and what it means for real estate.

http://www.northjersey.com/counties/single-family-homes-stay-in-the-game-1.1677967

I couldn't imagine paying over $1 million for a house in Paramus. So many better towns to spend that type of money.

The sky is high.

There is plenty of opportunity for smart development of the type you see all along the rail line these days.

Ska,

In theory there's plenty of opportunity within the built-up parts of NJ, but politics makes development very hard to pull off. Think of the opposition to the Post House/Clarus and the Station House.

And what development that is taking place along rail lines is usually intentionally planned to not have family-size apartment units. The Station House has 0 three-bedrooms. 3rd+Valley has exactly two. Maplewood and South Orange's mayors are very frank that the apartment buildings they approve are built for singles, the childfree/less, and empty nesters. (and I don't blame them, given how crowded our school system has become.)

We call apartment buildings and townhouses "multifamily," but I think that's a misnomer since the dwellers are usually not "families" per se.

So I'm very worried about NJ's future affordability. Perhaps some middle-class families will learn to live in smallish apartments again, but more middle-class families who are priced out will move to communities not hitherto-considered middle class and further reduce options for low-income families. (or else they'll leave NJ altogether)

ska said:

The sky is high.

There is plenty of opportunity for smart development of the type you see all along the rail line these days.

Interesting article. I wonder when we will reach infrastructure saturation. How many more multis can you tie to the water and sewage lines before those systems are as overwhelmed as the schools.

Runner_Guy said:

Ska,

In theory there's plenty of opportunity within the built-up parts of NJ, but politics makes development very hard to pull off. Think of the opposition to the Post House/Clarus and the Station House.

And what development that is taking place along rail lines is usually intentionally planned to not have family-size apartment units. The Station House has 0 three-bedrooms. 3rd+Valley has exactly two. Maplewood and South Orange's mayors are very frank that the apartment buildings they approve are built for singles, the childfree/less, and empty nesters. (and I don't blame them, given how crowded our school system has become.)

We call apartment buildings and townhouses "multifamily," but I think that's a misnomer since the dwellers are usually not "families" per se.

So I'm very worried about NJ's future affordability. Perhaps some middle-class families will learn to live in smallish apartments again, but more middle-class families who are priced out will move to communities not hitherto-considered middle class and further reduce options for low-income families. (or else they'll leave NJ altogether)

ska said:

The sky is high.

There is plenty of opportunity for smart development of the type you see all along the rail line these days.

There is really only one reason for this - that school funding in NJ it tied to local property taxes. Break that link (admittedly very difficult) and there will be far less opposition to family sized apartment units.