Where did your home land in Q2?
I pulled the closed-sale numbers for the towns I actually work in — not all fifty-plus towns in Bergen County, just the ones I drive through, list in, and know block by block. Here's what stood out to me.
Alpine stayed exactly what it's always been: very few homes, very particular buyers. Five homes changed hands in Q2, at an average of $5,009,000 — up 5% from a year ago. What tells the real story is days on market: down 33%, to 114 days. Still patient by most standards, but it means the homes that did sell moved with more conviction than last year. Buyers up here aren't disappearing. They're being selective, and when they commit, they're paying up for the right property.
Saddle River told a slightly different version of the same story. Average sale price eased 6%, to $2,563,275, and days on market stretched to 114 — up 27%. But 21 homes sold, a jump of 40% over last year. More activity, softer pricing, longer negotiations. If you're selling above $2.5 million right now, it's the same conversation I have with every seller in this range: price it where the data says, not where a neighbor's listing said two years ago, and expect a real negotiation once you're under contract.
Englewood Cliffs split the difference — average price up 10%, to $2,664,394, but only 20 homes sold, down 35%, and it took 20% longer to get there. The view and the bridge access still command a premium. There are just fewer buyers willing to write that check right now.
This is where I've been telling my clients to pay attention. Ho-Ho-Kus and Upper Saddle River both posted 29% increases in average sale price — Ho-Ho-Kus to $1,713,268, Upper Saddle River to $1,977,693 — and neither one slowed down to get there. Ho-Ho-Kus days on market fell 27%, and sales volume was up 28%. Franklin Lakes moved the same direction: average price up 15%, to $2,212,852, days on market down a full third, and 53 homes sold — 23% more than last year.
Woodcliff Lake had the number that actually stopped me: 34 homes sold, up 79% year over year, with average price up 17%, to $1,290,279. Norwood posted a smaller price gain — up 3%, to $1,091,157 — but sold 74% more homes than it did last year. Something is pulling buyers a little further out from the towns that get all the headlines, and it's showing up in the numbers before it shows up in the conversation.
Ridgewood stayed remarkably steady — average price up just 1%, to $1,504,484, with 95 homes sold. That's a market that has found its level after a few years of sharper moves. Tenafly, on the other hand, is still climbing: average price up 19%, to $1,908,973, with days on market down 24%. Closter (-10%, to $1,482,137) and Cresskill (-12%, to $1,367,619) both pulled back on price, though Closter's sales volume was actually up 15% — a sign that pricing is adjusting to what buyers will pay, not that buyers are walking away. Demarest held nearly flat, up 4%, to $2,033,750, and Haworth was essentially unchanged at $1,487,470, with the same 15 homes sold as last year.
None of that reads as a slowdown to me. It reads like a market that ran hard for a few years and is now figuring out where it actually wants to sit.
Fort Lee's single-family market made one of the strongest moves in my coverage area this quarter — average price up 22%, to $1,403,350. The condo and co-op market stayed the workhorse it's always been: 232 units sold, average price up 4%, to $566,243. Between the two, Fort Lee remains one of the most active corners of the county, and the George Washington Bridge is still doing exactly what it's always done for this town.
Add in Montvale (average price up 7%, days on market down 54%), Park Ridge (up 2%, steady across the board), Old Tappan (up 13%, though days on market stretched to 52), and Hillsdale (flat on price, though transaction count pulled back 53%), and the picture across my towns is less "hot" or "cold" than it is uneven — moving at different speeds depending on price point, inventory, and how patient buyers in that particular town are willing to be.
That's the backward look. Here's what I'm watching heading into the second half of the year: the 10-year Treasury yield touched 5% this month — the highest it's been since 2023 — as persistent inflation and a national debt that just crossed $40 trillion keep pressure on long-term rates. Mortgage rates track that yield closely, and until it eases, I expect financed buyers across most price points to stay cautious and sellers to keep adjusting to meet them. More price cuts, not fewer, through year end.
The luxury tier is more insulated from all of this — a buyer paying $5 million in Alpine usually isn't financing the purchase, so a 10-year yield near 5% barely registers for them. But no price point is fully immune. It shows up there too, just with less force: fewer bidding wars, longer negotiations, buyers who can afford to wait doing exactly that.
That's the part a number on a page can't tell you: what it actually means for your specific street, your specific home, your specific timeline. That's always been the conversation I'd rather have.