Three Counties Drive New Jersey to Fastest Housing Growth in 30 Years

New Jersey built 36,596 homes each year from 2020 through 2024. This marks the quickest construction streak in three decades. Hudson, Ocean, and Bergen counties topped the state in new housing during those five years, a Rutgers University study shows.

The construction rate outpaced every decade over the past 30 years. James W. Hughes, a professor and dean emeritus at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, wrote the 42nd edition of the Rutgers Regional Report with Connie Hughes.

“The scale of development in the 2020s was a bit surprising,” said James W. Hughes, per NJ.com.

Hudson County added 5,777 homes per year between 2020 and 2024. Ocean County followed with 3,923 new homes annually, while Bergen County produced 3,648 each year.

Millennials wanted places where they could live, work, and play. That demand pushed waterfront growth, James W. Hughes said. Developers converted old factories into condos and apartments, using utilities and infrastructure that were already there.

Michael Kotler, a real estate agent in Hoboken, represented a buyer who purchased the priciest condo ever sold in town. The unit at The Hudson Tea Buildings spanned 3,000 square feet. It once stood as part of a Lipton Tea factory. Four bedrooms. Four full bathrooms.

“Buyers here aren’t just buying a condo — they’re buying a story,” Kotler said.

Orthodox Jews and retirement communities drove Ocean County construction. The area has 93 communities for people aged 55 and older, with 62,771 units total, county data confirms.

Rivky Feferkorn of Team Ari Realtors moved from Brooklyn in 2016. Schools and kosher food stores serve the Orthodox Jewish community there.

“It’s very different than going to the boondocks and trying to create that community,” Feferkorn said.

Bergen County sits close to New York City, which sparked building in Hackensack, Edgewater, and Fort Lee. Builders tore down older houses and put up bigger ones in their place.

Jason Pierce of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty sold an 11,000-square-foot home in Englewood Cliffs for $5.4 million in March. The sale broke a price record for the town.

The state hasn’t seen a recession in 15 years, which kept construction going strong. New home production hit bottom in 2009 when just 12,421 homes went up during the Great Recession.

The pandemic pushed millennials out. They left apartments in Brooklyn and Manhattan. They bought single-family homes in the suburbs instead, James W. Hughes said.

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