Your summer guide to the Jersey Shore housing market

The last two years have seen a ceaseless stream of economic, cultural and political change, which has left many people feeling whiplashed. But the one constant they have been able to depend on, since the word "COVID" entered our vocabulary, was this — home prices have been going up. Good news if you're a homeowner, not so great if you're a buyer.

Will that continue in 2022? That's what everyone wants to know. So check out our stories on the real estate market, so you can figure out the trends early.

What's happening with home prices?

How hot is the real estate market? Find out the latest median prices of single-family homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties. This report is available to our subscribers.

Mortgage rates spiked. Will that kill the runup in Jersey Shore home prices? The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.1% at the end of April, up from 3% at the end of 2021, reaching its highest level since the Great Recession in 2009. That means the cost of borrowing money is no longer negligible, as it has been for so long. A buyer of a $300,000 home getting a 30-year fixed mortgage at 3% would pay $1,265 a month. The same buyer at 5% would pay $1,610, or $345 a month more. This report is available to our subscribers.

Why are Ocean, Monmouth counties growing while the NJ overall population shrinks? A combination of factors led to coastal county growth — including a continued baby boom in Lakewood and the relative affordability of homes and taxes compared to other parts of the state. Between the pandemic summers of 2020 and 2021, Ocean County was the fastest growing county in New Jersey, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This report is available to our subscribers.

Number of 'zombie homes' in Toms River falling thanks to rising real estate prices. The township has been working to give owners of unoccupied homes incentive to either sell them or make improvements so they become livable again. It appears to be working. For three straight years, the fees brought in by these abandoned homes have declined, as fewer remain abandoned.

NJ property taxes eat up 10% of the average income for these towns. Is yours one of them? Homeowners in nearly 60 towns — more than one in 10 Garden State communities — are spending more than 10% of their income on property if they live in their town's average home and earn their town's average income, according to an analysis by USA TODAY Network New Jersey. This report is available to our subscribers.

NJ property taxes: These 25 towns charge the least on $3M homes. If you've got the money, but still want a relative property tax bargain, here is where you should look.

What's going there? Your summer guide to new Monmouth, Ocean stores at the Jersey Shore

Want a tiny home? Barn Swallow in Jackson will build you one. Tiny homes are often defined as being 600 square feet or less and come in many varieties, from ‘tow-behind’ tiny homes on wheels to oversized tiny homes that need to be towed professionally. Cody Gaudlip is the man to put you in one.

Lakewood tenant complaints on the rise as landlords increase rent. Since the start of 2022, the number of Lakewood tenants experiencing significant rent increases has ballooned, according to Eugenio Espinosa, community service coordinator at New Jersey’s Solutions to End Poverty Soon (NJ STEPS).

‘Devastated:’ $2M low-cost housing program funded a $20K Airbnb, left tenants homeless. A $2 million rental aid program for the poor was so bungled through mismanagement that city officials paid to remodel houses for several landlords — who then raised rents and kicked out struggling tenants or, in one case, offered a taxpayer-refurbished home to tourists as an opulent $20,000-a-month seaside getaway, an Asbury Park Press investigation found.

Asbury Park's $2M affordable housing mismanagement: How did it happen? Find out more in this report available to our subscribers.

Storm resilient building at the Shore: Should we change our building codes? New Jersey has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation. The median age of an owner-occupied home in New Jersey is between 51 and 60 years old. That's problematic, because experts say newer homes are better equipped at withstanding high winds and stronger storms.

Where are the new homes?

See the plans for proposed 660-unit housing and retail development near Freehold Raceway Mall. A proposed 660-unit housing and retail development across from Freehold Raceway Mall will move a step closer to reality Thursday when the Planning Board votes on final approval for the plans that would also reduce the township’s court-ordered affordable housing requirement by 200 units. This report is available to our subscribers.

Want an Asbury Park home? Over 200 condos, townhouses coming near beach. The city's master developer, iStar, has signed agreements with three prominent builders to construct more than 200 high-end condominium and townhouse units on vacant parcels near the waterfront, an iStar executive said. This report is available to our subscribers.

92-unit apartment building with offices, retail proposed for Springwood in Asbury Park. A developer is proposing a four-story building with 92 apartments along with offices and retail space in a project that would expand redevelopment in the city to the west side of town.

Breton Woods development plan creates rift between Brick residents and developer. Homebuilder D.R. Horton argues that developing a forested parcel known as Breton Woods with 59 single-family homes would have no significant environmental impact on the township. Brick residents who oppose the plan don't buy that. This report is available to our subscribers.

10-story development could bring new life to Seaside Heights' Boulevard. Plans for a 10-story Boulevard building to be built on the site of the former steel skeleton structure are likely to be presented to the borough Planning Board soon. It will include 77 residential units, a restaurant and retail. This report is available to our subscribers.

Red Bank OKs plan to make Riverside Avenue five-story apartments even bigger. A five-story apartment building, dubbed 176 Riverside Ave., was approved by the planning board in December 2019 and will replace the former Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) building. But an April plan approved by the town expands it from 210 to 212 apartments adds nearly 100 more parking spaces, raising the total to 420.

Farm could get 660 houses, apartments, townhouses next to Freehold Raceway Mall. A developer proposes to build 660 townhouses, apartments and single-family homes, as well as retail and a restaurant, on more than 73 acres of farmland located across from the entrance of Freehold Raceway Mall over the next 20 years. This report is available to our subscribers.

Improvements are coming to Route 9 in Toms River, but will they help brutal traffic? Signs of construction are everywhere in formerly rural North Dover. An office and warehouse are under construction north of Stevens Road. Site work is underway on the highway at Clayton Road for 150 units of housing, 30 of which will be designated affordable. At the Cox Cro Road intersection, Cox Cro Crossing is being built; the site will have 42 units, including nine affordable units. All this new housing has led to increased congestion on the highway, which township officials have for years hoped would be expanded from two lanes to four. This report is available to our subscribers.

Sandy Hook Fort Hancock redevelopment could be shot down by climate change. Seven of the fort's historic buildings are currently under lease for various purposes, from a bed-and-breakfast to a soon-to-open bar and restaurant. The leasing program’s biggest discussion point: New York developer Stillman International’s proposal to convert 21 of Fort Hancock's stately but crumbling “Officers Row” houses into 93 apartments while maintaining their historic facades.  This report is available to our subscribers.

Resurrected Hovtown Village Tinton Falls townhouse plan from 1985 approved. A little more than 30 years after construction stopped on Hovchild Village, it is set to begin again, albeit with some modifications. The revised site plan, now called Ironworks Crossing, includes 90 townhouses and 18 affordable rental condominium units. This report is available to our subscribers.

Holmdel OKs 50 affordable apartments near Hazlet boundary, with first move-ins by 2023. The development, dubbed the Holmdel Family Apartments, will be built and managed by the Walters Group, a Barnegat-based developer. The complex is part of the township’s 2019 affordable housing settlement agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center.

'Outrageous' comments blamed for $700K Jackson Trails payout as 459 houses OK'd. Two years ago, the would-be developer of a sprawling housing development blamed a "rising tide of antisemitism" for the Planning Board denying his project. Now, township officials are at least partially citing that same "hostility" for a hefty settlement that will see the project come to fruition — with a six-figure payment attached.

Howell has settled a lawsuit with 'The Fountains' developer for $130K. What's next? The settlement agreement should clear the last major obstacles for 6461 Route 9 Howell LLC to build 100 age-restricted units at the southern end of town. This report is available to our subscribers.

After over a year of back-and-forth, 100-acre Howell housing development approved. The Planning Board approved a 319-unit development at Fort Plains and Sunnyside roads, dubbed the Views at Monmouth Manor. It will transform an almost entirely undeveloped 100-acre parcel into a brand new neighborhood with 92 condominiums earmarked for low- and moderate-income families alongside 72 market-rate single-family units and 155 market-rate townhomes. This report is available to our subscribers.

Long Branch Seaview Towers condo plan reaches redevelopment deal with city. The developer will pay a one-time $100,000 redevelopment fee to the city as it seeks the necessary approvals from various local and state agencies to build a "U"-shaped building with a pair of seven-story wings and a three-story wing running between them, connecting the two wings, at 390 Ocean Ave. It will build about 150 condos on a sight previously occupied by 1950s-era apartment towers.

Long Branch wants shuttered Seashore School turned into apartments, park. The city wants to adopt a redevelopment plan for the four-acre site of the former Seashore School. The plan calls for re-use of the historic structures, including the 1926-era Masonic Temple building, on the lot at 410 Broadway for apartments. A large swath of the ball fields on the vacant lot bordering Morris Avenue will be donated to the city for a park. This report is available to our subscribers.

Long Branch apartments, businesses OK'd next to Springsteen 'Born to Run' cottage. If you want to live next to some rock 'n' roll lore, a three-story 26-unit apartment building was approved on West End Court, two doors down from the cottage where Bruce Springsteen wrote his breakthrough "Born to Run" album.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ real estate: Homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties