Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy

Watch.

Real Estate and rental panic setting in early for late Summer 2024?

Our notes from past 2 weeks…..

Rental cancellations, lower prices, vacant weeks, difficulty in finding employees. Even some super-busy eateries (TacoCat Margate) are calling it quits.

What’s going on? No AC beach concerts. No AC Airshow. No AC Beer Fest. Spirit Airlines rumors.

Deeply discounted short term rentals. Lack of enforcement for illegal one night stays. Desperate landlords ignoring local law and offering one and two night rentals. Poorly vetted tenants.

Plenty of STR, short term rental inventory sitting empty in Brigantine.

Notice all those Jersey Shore rental properties sitting vacant during these prime summer weeks?

Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy 1 Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy
Amy Rosenberg of Philadelphia Inquirer

Young families not moving into Brigantine, Ventnor or Margate. Too expensive. Neighbors complain that their community is being gutted, never to return. Aggressive planning boards filled with realtors, developers and builders looking to build 10 bedroom party houses. School enrollments dropping faster than before, while cost per pupil rises. Full-time families forced to leave the shore.

Cheap money and poorly managed AirBnb STR rules allow for motel zones within residential neighborhoods.

TREND: Many considering converting their STR’s into annual rentals.

Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy 2 Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy

Amy Rosenberg of Philadelphia Inquirer: According to Realtor Maria Sacco Handle, rental bookings are 60 percent off this summer in Brigantine.

Handle is President of Brigantine Business Chamber, a Planning Board member, and a real estate agent in Brigantine. Maria Sacco Handle also manages client’s short-term rentals.

Full story here:

https://www.inquirer.com/newsletters/shore/jersey-shore-rentals-boardwalk-20240711.html

Brigantine Business Chamber president recommends reducing minimum stays and lowering rental prices.

What else to do? Lease to year-round tenants. Consider selling now before end of summer.

“Given the sluggish rental market contrasted with a thriving sales market, it may be worth considering selling your property,” Handle wrote in the email to the owners of the rentals she manages.

Realtor Handle seeing an uptick of people returning recent home purchases to the market.

Brigantine example: one prime beachfront rental property sitting empty in July. Original weekly price of $10,000 slashed to $4,900

Brigantine has 900 registered rentals. Unknown how many illegal rentals are operating.

High mortgage rates, inflated home prices and too many STRs, hurts chance for building profitable rental business.

https://www.inquirer.com/newsletters/shore/jersey-shore-rentals-boardwalk-20240711.html

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5 thoughts on “Softening Jersey Shore Rental and Retail Economy”

  1. I’m ready for most STRs to crash. I spoke to a family staying at one near me. They said yhe cost was becoming too much to enjoy and won’t be coming next year.

  2. The beach town property values will always increase.

    There are some people that are very wealthy, through hard work and/or inheritance or both, that can afford the newer, very expensive second homes in these beach towns without a second thought.

    A very good investment for them to own and keep these newer, very expensive beach houses in their family as they could sell later.

    However, the average middle class family’s ability to rent a week’s stay at a rental in these beach towns will decrease over the years.

    And you can forget about the average middle class family being able to actually purchase a beach home and raise a family.

    The transformation where these beach towns were once primarily where lower to middle class families raised families to second homes for the wealthy will be completed in the next decade or two in my opinion.

    1. You’re rather conveniently ignoring the reality that the small, old homes from 50-60 years ago in shore towns would have to be taxed several times higher today to sustain the tax base necessary to fund city services. So even IF there weren’t newer larger houses replacing older/smaller ones, the town would suffer mightily without massive tax increases.

      1. Not so obvious.

        These beach towns survived years ago with less of a tax base as their services were smaller but sufficient.

        In my opinion, these beach towns years ago also had more charm, personality and sense of community back thaen.

        It may be difficult for you to understand because you did not live and grow up in a beach town years ago and witness the transformation.

        Most of us former “locals” have since moved on from the beach towns except for going to the actual beach.

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