17 August/18 August 2019 ★ FT Weekend 3US propertyThe seaside
and casino resorts for citydwellers were hit hard
by recession but pricesare edging upwards.
ByA.K. ThomsonS
purred by childhood memo-
ries of endless summers of
funfair rides, boardwalks and
beaches, Jim and Stephanie
Emme bought a second home
in North Wildwood, a small city on
Jersey Shore.
“We both always went there with our
families,” says Jim, a 33-year-old
accountant who lives just outside Phila-
delphia. “I still remember my dad tak-
ing me on the rides; it’s a part of what
has always brought me back.” Their
four-bedroom home near the bay cost
them just over $400,000 in March.
For many residents of New York
City, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the
141 miles ofJersey Shore beaches and
old-fashioned resorts is synonymous
with summer. And after years of stag-
nating property pricesagents say
that the residential market is finally
starting to move.
“The past year was the first year in a
long time that we had a serious appreci-
ation in value,” says Hugh Merkle, an
agent with Compass, theproperty
group. Merkle, who is based in Stone
Harbor, sayshe has seen home values
increase between 8 and 10 per cent in
the last year compared with between 2
and 4 per cent up to 2017.
At just over two hours’ drive from
New York, less than two from Philadel-
phia and three from Baltimore,Jersey
Shore has long offered city residents
aneasy beach escape during the
summer months.
“It has those wonderful big old
beach clubs, hotdogs and soft ice
cream,” says Kathy Braddock, manag-
ing director of the New York City officeSun peeks out on Jersey Shore
(Left) Six-
bedroom house
in Longport,
$3.195m; (far
right) five-
bedroom house
inStone Harbor,
$3.295mreached in August 2006. In Philadel-
phia, it is a similar pattern.
One reason for the slow recovery
along the Jersey Shore is that the local
economy, which relies on casinos and
tourism, was hit hard by the US reces-
sion. Another, argues Mike Mavromates
of Long & Foster Real Estate in Avalon, is
that second-home ownership fell in the
wake of the financial crash. “You need a
primary residence,” he says. “But you
only want a second one.”
Ocean City, which has banned sales of
alcohol within its limits since its found-
ing in 1879, has the biggest proportion of
second homes of any US city, according
to Smartasset, the financial technology
company.Occupancy rates reach
130,000 in the summer, compared with
a winter population of just 11,000.
Another cause for the slow recovery
was Hurricane Sandy, which battered
the US eastern seaboard in late
2012, leaving more than 200 people
dead, destroying 650,000 homes andcosting an estimated $65bn in damages.
Merkle of Compass says Sandy hit
the northern and central part of the
Jersey Shore harder than elsewhere
and the psychological effects killed
off a rebound in the local housing
market. “There was a buying frenzy in
2012, which was clearing out a lot of
the inventory but when Sandy hit,it scared the hell out of people,” he says.
Avalon, Longport and Stone Harbor
are the most desirable of the strip’s
cities. Merkle is listing a home in
Avalon on nearly 11,000 sqft of bay
front with two floating docks for
$3.65m. For$3.295m, he is offering a
five-bedroom, four-bathroom homea
few yards from the beach in Stone Har-
bor. In Longport, Long & Foster is listing
a six-bedroom three-storey house next
to the beach for $3.195m.
The past few years have offered bar-
gains. In 2016, Mike Scanlon bought
a four-bedroom house in Atlantic City
to use as a summer home. He was just
25 years old and it cost him $14,000 — a
product of the high foreclosure rates
following the collapse of several big
casinos. “The banks were just letting
these properties go,” he says. “And the
prices were ridiculous; it was too good
to pass up.”
Since then, he has bought more prop-
erties along the Jersey Shore which heTrentonPerth
AmboyCape May Point kmJersey Shore
ATLANTIC
OCEANNEW
JERSEYrents to low-income families via the gov-
ernment’s Housing and Urban Develop-
ment (HUD) programme. All of the
properties, more than 40 to date, were
bought at rock-bottom prices, some as
low as $1,100.
He says that few needed serious
repair and someare even on the water
with bay views and a place to moor a
boat. “Anywhere else in the country,
and these homes would be going for
$300,000 or more,” he says.
Scanlon saysuntil a couple of years
ago, roughly 50 per cent of his tenants
were acquired through HUDbut that
has dropped to 25 per cent as the local
economy has picked up.
Jerry Barker, an agent in Atlantic City,
says that the dark days — five of the
city’s casinosshut in four years — appear
to be over. Two of those casinos have
now reopenedand there is even a new
university in town. “It’s been a long time
coming,” he says. “But we’re doing really
well right now.”i/BUYING GUIDE
Property taxes vary but are far lower than
in New York
The southern tip of the Jersey Shore is
less than three hours’ drive from New
York — traffic permitting
Most cities and communities along the
Shore are only eight or 10 blocks wide,
meaning almost all homes are a short walk
to beach or bayWhat you can buy for...
$1mA three-bedroom townhouse in Cape
May with ocean views
$1.5mA three or four-bedroom
single-family home just a few blocks
from the beach
$5mA 5,000 sq ft, six-bedroom home
with ocean views
More at propertylistings.ft.comHouse Home
of William Raveis, a property group.
Stretching from Perth Amboy in the
north to Cape May Point at the southern
tip, Jersey Shore offers bargains.
According to Zillow, the online property
database, median home values in the
five counties that comprise the Jersey
Shore haveyet to exceed their 2006
peak — with some still a long way below.
Median home values in New York City,
by contrast, have risen to $674,000 —
compared with the $519,800 theyWildwood Beach on the Jersey Shore— James Kirkikis/Dreamstime.com
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