Saddle River, New Jersey is in a buyer's market due to the predominance of luxury homes, but local Realtors believe that the accompanying price depression will bring buyers back.

"Saddle River is a place of beautiful, spacious and elegant estates," explain Realtors James and Samira Cook. "Zoning calls for two-acre minimum lots, so that there is privacy plus room for swimming pools and tennis courts. There are older estates with charm of the past and many newly built with all the modern conveniences."

About the market the Cooks explain, "There is excess inventory of listed homes in Saddle River. The economic slow down has not been kind to the sellers of luxury properties in this area resulting in a strong buyer's market. The price depreciation that usually accompanies the build-up of inventory is clearly evident. There is still more than a 15-month supply of homes, and that is up from 14.18 months from last month. In 90 days, 11 sold with a low price of $660,000 and high price of $4,250,000, with a median of $1,220,000. There are 43 active listings."

Upper Saddle River retains a distinctly rural flavor, say the Cooks, even though the farms are long since gone.

"The homes are spread out over the hills and within the treed lots," say the Cooks. "Some are in loose developments but most homes are one-of-a-kind floor plans. The town deserves its reputation as an up-scale executive community of larger homes. The last snapshot of the stats shows about a 5.42 month supply of available homes. This is high for the town, and therefore the market has turned toward the buyers' advantage. In the last 90 days, 31 homes have sold, with a low price of $540,000, a high price of $1,800,000 and median price of $760,000. There are 62 active listings."

Click here to view current Market Conditions in your location.

Published: December 17, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.