Home re-sales rise in New Jersey

New Jersey is one of only three states with an increase in home re-sales in the first quarter of this year.

New Jersey is one of only three states with an increase in home re-sales in the first quarter of this year.

Sales of previously owned homes in the Garden State were up 6.8 percent from the previous quarter. Sales have gained for four straight quarters and are up more than 14 percent from a year ago.

Jarrod Grasso, the C.E.O. of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, says a tax credit that expired at the end of April helped spur home sales.

“I hope you don’t see a dramatic drop off in sales activity,” says Grasso, “because we’re going into the summer months. The summer months normally are a very active time periods, because families want to buy their homes now, get settled in, and get ready for the next school year.”

Median home prices in the quarter were little changed. Housing analysts anticipate prices may move higher in the second half of the year.