N.J. Home Deals in Gridlock

Even before Sandy ripped through the Northeast coast last month, the region’s housing market had been among the weakest in the nation. Now, damage from the storm is raising new concerns in coastal communities about falling home prices and more foreclosures as weary homeowners, some upside down on their mortgages, decide whether to stay or go. The problems are especially evident in New Jersey, which has been largely left out of the housing recovery that has taken hold in much of the rest of the  nation.  In New Jersey home values declined 1.8% in September from a year earlier, nearly one in six homeowners with a mortgage is upside down and the state has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country.

Wall Street Journal    November 29, 2012