
Some Highlights
- Home affordability depends on three factors: mortgage rates, home prices, and wages.
- Mortgage rates are down from their recent peak, home prices are expected to rise at a slower pace, and wages are increasing faster than usual.
- That’s good news if you want to buy a home because it means affordability is getting better.

Shea Merritt is a licensed New Jersey real estate agent with eXp Realty, working with buyers and sellers across Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. He grew up in Old Bridge. He writes here about the arithmetic behind a move: what a house would actually bring today, what the tax line does to a monthly payment, and how to compare offers on their terms rather than on the top number. If you are weighing a sale or a purchase, send him the address and he will run the numbers on it.