Fox News host's LBI house on the market for $1.8M

Fox News personality Jesse Watters and his wife Emma have put their Beach Haven home on the market with a listing price of $1.85 million.

The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home is 2,044 square feet and a little more than a block from the Atlantic Ocean, according to the listing.

The Watters purchased the home in April 2021 for $1.1 million, property records show.

Watters is host of "Jesse Watters Primetime," co-host of "The Five," and author of the book, "How I Saved the World." And he is no stranger to Beach Haven. He proposed to Emma at the 5th Street Pavilion in 2019.

The Watters' decision to sell will be a test for the Jersey Shore's second-home market. That segment of the housing market soared during the pandemic, when people took advantage of low mortgage rates and remote work policies to leave cities in search of safety.

More:Jersey Shore home prices still rising, but doubled mortgage rates might end that

With mortgage rates climbing again, the Ocean County housing market overall is showing signs of moderating. The median price of a home sold there in November was $519,000 according to the New Jersey Association of Realtors, a trade group.

That's still 13.1% higher than the same month a year ago, but the pace is slowing from the 20% year-over-year growth that the county has seen for much of the pandemic.

There are other indicators of a slowing housing market, statistics from the Realtors' group showed. For example:

• Ocean County sellers in October received 99.6% of their asking price, the first time since February 2021 that figure dipped below 100%.

• Ocean County homes in November had spent 40 days on the market before they were sold, up 17.6% from the same month a year ago.

• Ocean County had an inventory of 1,783 homes for sale in November, up 19.4% from the same month last year.

Despite rising interest rates, the housing market remains stronger than it was before the pandemic. In Ocean County in November 2019, for example, sellers received 97.4% of their asking price; homes spent 76 days on the market; and there were 3,539 homes for sale, data shows.

Moreover, the second home market is a wild card, in part because many buyers pay with cash and aren't swayed by rising interest rates.

More:See inside 'Sinatra house' for sale in Point Pleasant Beach, complete with summer wind

Watters, in a recent commentary, noted that he lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The listing price on his Beach Haven home has been reduced by $150,000 since it first went on the market in October.

Realtors, however, said the second home market continues to be hindered more by the lack of inventory.

"I don't feel that it's slowing down," said Tina L. Polhemus, a broker and manager of Diane Turton, Realtors' office in Lavallette. "It’s really more a supply and demand issue at this point. Anything that comes on the market in our second home area is definitely getting activity and contracts."

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Fox News' Jesse Watters lists Beach Haven NJ home for $1.8M