New Jersey has been one of the states hardest hit by the housing bust, and in December it reported its first quarterly sales decline since 2010.
Real estate sales in the state fell 4.5 percent in December, according to a report by the New Jersey Association of Realtors.
Sales fell 2.6 percent in January, according the National Association of Home Builders.
And sales have declined in recent months, dropping 2.9 percent in April, according an analysis of sales data by Bloomberg.
New Jersey’s housing market was once one of America’s best, with many of its most desirable properties and high-end apartment buildings coming online after years of expensive construction.
But the housing crisis has slowed the industry and forced many buyers and sellers to look elsewhere for a place to live.
Real Estate Institute of Southern California says that sales dropped 3.5% in January and 2.8 percent in March, compared with a similar period in 2017.
Realestate Institute of California says the number of transactions fell 6.2 percent in May and 9.2% in June.
A report released in June by the National Council on Real Estate cited several factors in the slow sales: The slowdown in sales due to the recession; the fact that fewer people are searching for homes in New Jersey; and the lack of supply of affordable homes, including in large cities and rural areas.
Real-estate market watchers say many of these factors have contributed to the dip in sales.
Some real-estate analysts, including the NARED, are calling for stricter regulations to help prevent a repeat of the 2008 housing bust.
The National Association for Home Buildings says it’s too early to say how much the slowdown in new listings will impact the housing market, as the NCHER is not able to track the pace of new listings.
But it does note that fewer homes are being built in New York City and the suburbs, and more people are moving out of New Jersey.
NARING also says the housing sector is not growing at the rate that some expected, as demand for homes has slowed.
The NCHE, which has been tracking the real estate market for more than 20 years, says that despite the slow growth, the economy is improving, housing inventory is growing, and new listings are falling.
And, NARINGS report says, many of the properties that were available in December 2016 have now been sold or are on the market.
NCH EMA says the industry is still very much in a recovery phase.
“The recovery continues to be sluggish and the market is not seeing the same level of growth that we were anticipating in early 2017,” said NCHES CEO Scott Taylor.
The downturn has had a profound impact on New Jersey and other states that have seen a housing boom.
A housing market that was once in full swing has been in a slow crawl since early 2017.
NCLR reported that sales in New England fell 1.5 percentage points in December and 5.7 points in January.
The market in New Mexico fell 4 percent in the same month.
And the number one selling state in the country was Georgia, which dropped 4.6 points in the third quarter, according a report from the Atlanta-based real-time listings website Zillow.
The housing market in California and Florida also are in a tough spot.
In February, the NCLRS said the average sale price of a single-family home in the Bay Area went down 3.4 percent from January to March.
Zillows estimates that sales of single-detached homes fell 1 percent in February, and the average price of single homes dropped 5.4% in the year.