While housing inventory across the nation has continued to fall short of meeting the growing demand, certain cities are making bigger strides at closing that gap than others. And in New Jersey, there’s one place that’s far exceeding expectations.
Jersey City is leading the Garden State in housing development with a 43% increase in housing inventory from 2005 to 2023 — at least twice as fast than the rest of the state. This Hudson County city was also named among the top spots for housing development in the nation for the same period, outpacing the national rate of 16.7%.
This is according to a recent housing trend report from StorageCafe — a self-storage listing site that is part of real estate software platform Yardi — where experts ranked 489 U.S. cities with populations of more than 55,000 people based on how their housing inventory changed from 2005 to 2023, using U.S. Census data.
Ranking 56th overall in the report, Jersey City saw housing development surpass its population from 2005 to 2023. While the city’s population increased by 18% during this time, it had a 20% increase in housing units per capita, according to the report.
With this, the report found that Jersey City had significant growth across all housing types. This included a 52% increase in single-family homes; a 95% increase in multifamily units; and a 17% increase in middle housing, which consists of duplexes, triplexes and townhomes.
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This is substantially higher than the national average, which the report said was 16.7% for single-family homes; 54% for multifamily homes; and 11.3% for middle housing.
The report also said that the median household income in Jersey City grew by 133% from 2005 to 2023, which was the fourth-highest increase in the nation. And the median home price here increased by 86% during this time, according to the report.
“New Jersey’s growing housing inventory, including more middle housing options, has helped tame home price growth to some extent, making it easer for first-time buyers to get a foot in the door — especially compared to New York. Across the state, home prices have stayed below the national average growth rate of 103.1%,” said Emilia Man, real estate analyst for StorageCafe. “However, in Jersey City, demand has outpaced supply. Affordability remains a major challenge, with the city now more expensive than anywhere else in New Jersey — even surpassing traditionally pricey spots like Union City and Clifton.”
Other North Jersey cities with significant housing development
Newark was New Jersey’s second-fastest-growing market in terms of housing development from 2005 to 2023, according to the report.
This Essex County city ranked 189th overall, with a 20% increase in housing inventory during this period. This included a 37% increase in single-family homes; a 5% increase in multifamily homes and a 22% increase in middle housing.
Union City (240th), Paterson (256th) and Clifton (324th) were the only other North Jersey cities to be named in the report. These cities respective housing inventory increases of 15%, 13% and 9% from 2005 to 2023.
Here is the full ranking of all of the cities included in the report:
Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her on Instagram @maddiemcgay, on X @maddiemcgayy, and sign up for her North Jersey Living newsletter. Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her at MMcGay@gannett.com.
