Asbury Park's single-family market, read in the numbers.
A supply-constrained, fast-clearing coastal market where scarcity and liquidity — not affordability — are setting price.
Scores are public, human-reviewed town signals on a 0–100 scale. For where a specific home sits against them, send us the address.
A supply-constrained, fast-clearing coastal market where scarcity and liquidity — not affordability — are setting price.
- 01The median sale price is up ~17.2% year-over-year (median $/sqft +11.3%); part of the gain reflects a richer mix of homes selling, not only price-per-foot.
- 02The market is structurally tight and fast-clearing (Scarcity 92/100, Liquidity 97/100), which keeps pricing power with sellers.
- 03The top decile of sales (above ~$1,460,000) accounts for about 25% of dollar volume — a meaningful luxury tail behind the median.
- 04Asking $/sqft sits ~14% above the trailing sold median, so seller expectations are currently running ahead of clearing evidence — a gap to watch.
- Whether active inventory keeps expanding — our Scarcity reading eased marginally against the prior release, and a sustained build would be the first sign of loosening.
- Whether days-on-market lengthen from the current fast pace, which typically precedes any change in pricing power.
- Whether the high-end (the $800+/sqft tail) holds its share of transactions, since the luxury segment carries a meaningful part of dollar volume.
Based on 172 trailing-12-month single-family sales (149 with recorded size for $/sqft), recent data vintage. Town-level aggregate, so conviction is capped below 'High'.
Asbury Park remains a scarcity-driven, fast-clearing market with resilient single-family pricing; the principal near-term question is whether stretched asking prices converge to recent clearing evidence or absorption slows.
What our research found this period.
Briarwood Research's current read is that Asbury Park is a scarcity-driven, fast-clearing market where pricing power rests on limited supply rather than affordability. The findings below are the evidence-backed conclusions behind that view; the risks and watch-items that would change it follow later in the report.
- Scarcity, not affordability, remains Asbury Park's dominant pricing constraint despite elevated financing costs.
- A small luxury tail carries a disproportionate share of Asbury Park's dollar volume.
- 01Moderate confidence
Part of Asbury Park's headline price gain reflects a shift toward larger or pricier homes selling rather than pure per-square-foot appreciation.
Evidence- Median sale price is +17.2% year-over-year while median $/sqft is +11.3%, and median home size +0.6%.
- Computed over 149 trailing-12-month single-family sales with recorded size.
Counter-evidence- Median $/sqft is still positive, so some genuine appreciation is also present.
Why it matters. A mix-driven gain can overstate underlying appreciation, so the headline median should be read with care.
- 02Moderate confidenceSurprise
Scarcity, not affordability, remains Asbury Park's dominant pricing constraint despite elevated financing costs.
Evidence- Scarcity reads 92/100 and Liquidity 97/100 — limited inventory, fast clearing.
- Affordability stress is only 55/100 on our scale even though financing costs are elevated.
- Median $/sqft is up +11.3% year-over-year in the comparison window, even with financing costs elevated.
Alternative readings- Compositional shift — a richer mix of (larger or pricier) homes selling
- Luxury concentration — a few high-end trades are carrying the averages
We currently favor the scarcity interpretation because median $/sqft — not only the mix — was higher year-over-year; a pure composition or luxury-concentration story would not lift $/sqft across the market. We will revisit this if inventory expands or the $/sqft gap closes.
Why it matters. It identifies the swing factor: on this read, inventory — not mortgage rates — is the variable most likely to change pricing power.
- 03Tentative confidence
Sellers are currently pricing ahead of recent clearing evidence in Asbury Park.
Evidence- Active asking $/sqft ($505) is about 14% above the trailing-12-month sold median ($442).
- Days-on-market remain short (10 days), so the gap is not yet forcing cuts.
Why it matters. It frames the near-term tension: either buyers validate the higher asks or absorption slows and asking prices drift back toward where the town has been clearing.
- 04Moderate confidenceSurprise
A small luxury tail carries a disproportionate share of Asbury Park's dollar volume.
Evidence- The top 10% of sales (above ~$1,460,000) account for about 25% of total dollar volume.
- That decile is, by definition, 10% of transactions — so its dollar weight is disproportionate.
Why it matters. The median understates how much of the market's value sits in the high end; luxury demand has outsized influence on aggregate pricing and is a distinct risk vector.
Asbury Park continues to behave like a supply-constrained and fast-clearing coastal market. Active inventory is thin and homes are clearing in a median of 10 days, so well-priced listings are not sitting. Scarcity and liquidity — not affordability — are the forces setting price here.
Prices have proved resilient: the trailing-twelve-month median sits at $775,000 across 172 sales, up about 17.2% on the prior year, even as financing costs have stayed elevated. Our Affordability Stress reading is only 55/100 — roughly 64% of median household income to principal and interest on the assumed rate — which says demand for desirable locations is continuing to outweigh affordability pressure rather than break against it.
The tension worth watching sits on the ask side. Current asking prices run about 14% above recent transaction evidence on a $/sqft basis, suggesting seller expectations have begun to stretch ahead of where buyers have actually been clearing. Whether that gap closes through softer asking prices or simply slower absorption is the question the next several releases should answer.
- The trailing-12-month median sale price rose 17.2% to $775,000 (n=172), indicating continued pricing resilience despite higher borrowing costs.
- Sold $/sqft centers near $442/sqft across 149 eligible comps, but the spread is wide — the town median is a weak guide to any single block or condition tier.
- Active asking $/sqft runs ~14% above the trailing sold median, so listing expectations are currently running ahead of where buyers have cleared.
- With 14 active listings clearing at a median 10 days on market, the market is absorbing inventory quickly rather than building it.
At 97/100 the market reads exceptionally liquid: homes are clearing quickly relative to the active inventory, so a fairly priced listing should transact rather than linger. That is 0.7 up from the single prior published release (Δ +0.7) — a directional two-release comparison, not an index trend.
At 92/100 supply reads severely constrained: active listings are very low relative to the town's housing base, which keeps structural pressure under prices even when demand cools. That is 2.9 down from the single prior published release (Δ -2.9) — a directional two-release comparison, not an index trend.
At 55/100 financing stress reads moderate: on the assumed mortgage rate the median home absorbs roughly 64% of median household income in principal and interest. That is a genuine stretch but it is not what's setting price here — scarcity and liquidity are doing more of that. (Mortgage rate is an explicit assumption — see limitations.)
Market structure
Asbury Park's recorded transaction base is 51% single-family and 46% condominium (548 sales on file). This is a detached-house market with a smaller attached segment; the report covers the single-family cohort.
The setting is a supply-constrained coastal town — our Scarcity Index reads 92/100, consistent with a limited, largely built-out housing base where new supply is hard to add.
We do not yet have enough evidence to characterise seasonality with confidence.
Where build year is recorded (n=145), 17% of the stock dates to 2000 or later — an older, established housing base with limited recent construction.
Direct buyer-profile and primary- vs second-home characterisation are not asserted: the transaction record does not carry occupancy or buyer-intent fields, so any such claim would be inference rather than evidence.
What happened: prices held their ground
Asbury Park's single-family median has moved higher across the cycle, from $612,000 in 2023 Q1 to $706,000 in 2026 Q1. The line is uneven quarter to quarter, and the volume bars beneath it show the reads rest on real transaction counts, not a handful of sales.
Over the trailing twelve months the median was $775,000 across 172 sales — up about 17.2% on the prior year. That the median has held and extended through a period of elevated financing costs is the clearest evidence that demand for the town is outweighing affordability pressure.
Decomposing the move: median price is +17.2% year-over-year while median $/sqft is +11.3% and median size +0.6%. The two rose less than the headline median, so part of the move reflects a richer mix of (larger or pricier) homes selling rather than pure price-per-foot appreciation.
The shape beneath the median
A single town median hides a wide range. Across 149 eligibility-screened sales, sold $/sqft centers near $442/sqft, but the distribution runs from modest blocks into a substantial luxury tail. The shape — not just the midpoint — is the read: the town median is a weak anchor for any individual home.
On price, the middle 50% of trailing-12-month single-family sales runs $530,000 to $1,120,000 (median $775,000), with the 90th percentile at $1,460,000. The top decile alone accounts for about 25% of dollar volume — a luxury segment that moves the average well above the typical sale.
Why prices are sticky: supply and liquidity
Two of Briarwood's proprietary indices explain why the price line has held. Scarcity sits at 92/100 and Liquidity at 97/100 — a market that is both structurally short of inventory and quick to clear. Prices in that configuration do not need improving affordability to stay firm; they need only steady demand, and the 10-day median absorption says demand is intact.
The full per-index reads — including how each has moved against the prior release — are in the index panel above.
Liquidity & supply
As of 2026-07-14, Asbury Park carries 14 active single-family listings clearing at a median 10 days on market — a fast pace that says inventory is being absorbed, not accumulating.
Months-of-supply and absorption cannot be computed from the current feed: the active snapshot carries no recent closed-sale pace, so we report it as not available rather than derive it from an incomplete denominator.
New-listing flow and expired/withdrawn counts are not captured in the current active feed; those liquidity signals are flagged as not yet available.
| Active-market metric | Reading |
|---|---|
| Active listings | 14 |
| Median days on market | 10 days |
| Median days to sell (recent closings) | 57 days |
| Median asking price | $732,000 |
| Median asking $/sqft | $505/sqft |
| Price-cut share | not available |
| Stale (90+ day) share | not available |
| Months of supply | not available |
Redevelopment & builder demand
New-construction turnover is minimal: among single-family sales with a recorded build year (n=145), 0 were built within three years of sale.
Lot-level teardown and redevelopment signals are not asserted: lot-size is sparsely and unreliably recorded in the current comp set, so a redevelopment-intensity read would be fabricated. This is a priority data gap — redevelopment economics are where Briarwood intends to differentiate, and the signal is defined but not yet evidenced for this town.
Builder Demand and Renovation Spread are tracked as proprietary indices but are not yet scored for this town (they require inputs the current evidence base does not carry); they are monitored, not reported as values.
Property typology
Where bedroom count is recorded (61% of single-family sales), the market tiers cleanly by size. The table reads the price and $/sqft of each tier; note that larger homes carry a higher absolute price but the $/sqft gradient is what isolates location and quality from sheer size.
Segmentation by architectural style (ranch / cape / colonial) and by renovated-vs-dated condition is not available — those fields are essentially unpopulated in the current record, so we do not assert a style- or condition-based breakdown.
| By bedrooms | Sales | Median price | Median $/sqft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 bed or fewer | 43 | $725,000 | $408/sqft |
| 3 bed | 65 | $635,300 | $478/sqft |
| 4 bed | 30 | $791,250 | $501/sqft |
| 5+ bed | 34 | $980,000 | $437/sqft |
Neighbourhood & micro-market
Insufficient evidenceNamed micro-markets (beach blocks, east/west of key roads, waterfront vs non-waterfront, larger-lot redevelopment pockets) are not segmented in this edition: the subtown, location-tag, and micro-location fields are essentially unpopulated in the current comp record, so any neighbourhood-level claim would be invented. Geographic coordinates are present on 100% of sales, which gives a future path to a defensible coordinate-based cut (distance-to-beach, sub-area) once a reviewed boundary definition is in place — it is deliberately not estimated here.
Renovation economics
Insufficient evidenceA renovated-vs-dated premium cannot be measured: the comp record does not carry a reliable condition or renovation field, and Renovation Spread is not yet scored for this town. Rather than infer a premium from price alone — which would confound size, location, and condition — we report this as insufficient evidence.
The history behind the read.
Liquidity Index · index_score · 2 observed points
Liquidity Index moved -13.13
From 2026-06-12 to 2026-07-11, observed value changed from 96.21 to 83.08.
Active listings · count · 11 observed points
Active listings moved +7
From 2026-06-22 to 2026-07-14, observed value changed from 7 to 14.
| Metric | Prior | Current | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affordability Stress Index | 55.3 | 55.3 | →0 |
| Liquidity Index | 96.2 | 83.1 | ↓-13.1 |
| Scarcity Index | 94.8 | 85.6 | ↓-9.2 |
Liquidity Index moved -13.13
Liquidity Index had the largest current-vs-prior move.
What the read means.
- For buyers: the binding constraint is availability, not headline affordability. Competition concentrates on well-priced, move-in-ready homes in desirable blocks; patience tends to be rewarded mainly where an ask has run ahead of comparable sales.
- For sellers: recent clearing evidence supports firm pricing, but the gap between asking and sold $/sqft suggests the market is rewarding realistic pricing over aspirational pricing.
- For owners: scarcity and quick absorption continue to support values, but this is a town-level baseline — condition, block, and flood exposure still decide where a specific home sits against it.
The signals we'll keep monitoring.
- Whether active inventory keeps expanding — our Scarcity reading eased marginally against the prior release, and a sustained build would be the first sign of loosening.
- Whether days-on-market lengthen from the current fast pace, which typically precedes any change in pricing power.
- Whether the high-end (the $800+/sqft tail) holds its share of transactions, since the luxury segment carries a meaningful part of dollar volume.
- Redevelopment and new-construction activity — tracked via Builder Demand, which Briarwood monitors but does not yet score for this town.
- Whether buyer demand softens if financing costs stay elevated; that would surface first in absorption and days-on-market, not in the headline median.
Where our read could be wrong.
- Rates: the affordability read rests on a mortgage-rate assumption. A sustained move higher would pressure demand first through absorption and days-on-market, then price.
- Inventory expansion: the thesis depends on supply staying scarce. A durable rise in active listings would loosen the structural pressure that is currently holding prices firm.
- Flood & insurance exposure: coastal location carries flood-zone and insurance-cost risk that can re-rate desirability block-by-block; this report does not yet incorporate parcel-level flood data, so it is a known uncovered risk.
- Luxury slowdown: with a meaningful share of dollar volume in the high-end tail, a pullback in luxury demand would weigh on the median more than transaction counts alone would suggest.
- Local affordability ceiling: at the current price level, demand depends on out-of-area and second-home buyers; a broad demand cooling would surface here before it shows in the median.
- Thin samples: single-family $/sqft and the active-listing count rest on modest samples, so short-run readings can move on composition; we weight trend over any single release.
- Mix shift: part of the year-over-year price gain reflects what sold rather than pure appreciation, so the headline median may overstate underlying price movement.
Availability, not headline affordability, is the binding constraint in Asbury Park. Use the town baseline to frame the ask, then test the specific home — condition, block, and comp fit decide where a given listing should land against it.
Want a read on a specific Asbury Park property?
Send the address and we'll tell you how it compares with the rest of the town — a direct analysis from our research team, not an automated score.
- Observed facts — closed-sale prices, dates, and property attributes from Briarwood's proprietary Asbury Park transaction record (281 single-family sales), and the curated active-market aggregate as of 2026-07-14.
- Derived statistics — medians, distributions, and $/sqft, computed deterministically from those facts (no estimation, no smoothing).
- Proprietary signals — the Liquidity, Scarcity, and Affordability Stress indices, Briarwood computations over the same evidence rather than third-party scores.
- Research interpretation — the Briarwood Research findings, market thesis, competing hypotheses, and conviction; labelled throughout as our reading of the evidence, not fact.
- Forward-looking monitoring — the watch-items and risks, framed as what Briarwood Research will track as data accumulates, not as predictions.
- No external institutional research is cited as proof of any local fact; external macro/framework context, where used, is confined to framing and never to town-specific claims.
Evidence Notes
- Briarwood SOLD comp record for Asbury Park: 281 sales through 2026-06-30.
- Trailing-12-month window 2025-06-30 → 2026-06-30: 172 sales (prior year 45).
- $/sqft computed over 149 eligibility-screened comps (nominal-deed and outlier rows excluded).
- Active-market read from the approved curated aggregate, as of 2026-07-14.
Limitations
- This public report is a town and segment baseline, not a property-specific recommendation.
- The current (partial) quarter is excluded from the price trend; medians cover complete quarters only.
- Aggregate medians blend block, condition, and size; a specific home can sit far from the town median.
- Active inventory is thin (14 listings as of 2026-07-14); on-market reads carry wide error.
- The Affordability Stress reading rests on an explicit mortgage-rate assumption and town median household income; it frames financing stretch, not a forecast.
- Index movements are measured against the prior published release; the public baseline is still building (few observed points), so treat the deltas as directional, not trend.
Research disclaimer. Briarwood Research is independent market analysis prepared for informational purposes. It draws on public records (NJ SR1A deed transfers and MOD-IV assessments), third-party data (ATTOM), and Briarwood's own valuation models; figures are estimates, not a licensed appraisal, and nothing here is an offer, a solicitation, or investment advice. Confirm property-level facts before acting on any decision.