As the real estate market heads into the fall, Maplewood, NJ, and its sister town South Orange are showing prices and demand still well ahead of last year, according to weekly market data compiled by Mark Slade Homes. Mark Slade, who holds an economics degree, has developed his own 'hyper market index' to gauge real-time buyer activity. His latest weekly snapshot, for the week ending August 23, indicates that both towns are experiencing robust conditions.
The hyper market index compares the number of homes under contract to active listings. When the ratio exceeds 1.0, demand is outpacing supply, signaling a 'hyper market.' Slade tracks this weekly across seven towns, calculating average sale price, percentage over asking, and days on market. He argues that this method reflects current buyer activity better than the traditional absorption rate, which averages closed sales over six months and can be skewed by seasonality.
Among the seven towns, Montclair holds the strongest position, with 191 homes sold this year, an average sale price of $1,512,172, and homes selling 22.5% over asking. Homes there average 17.4 days on market, and its hyper market index is 1.9, the highest in the group. Maplewood follows with 137 solds (from same-year listings), an average price of $1,304,556, and 16.4% over asking. Homes in Maplewood are selling fastest, averaging just 13.6 days on market, with a ratio of 1.2. South Orange is close, with 86 solds, an average price of $1,230,401, and 15.8% over asking, averaging 14.9 days on market and a ratio of 1.6, which is actually higher than Maplewood's.
West Orange has posted 239 solds at an average price of $768,749, with homes selling 10.6% over asking and averaging 20.6 days on market, with a ratio of 1.2. Union has 198 solds at an average price of $602,239, trending 4.2% over asking with a ratio at 1.0. Livingston, however, remains the softest of the core markets, with 156 solds, an average price of $1,399,451, and only 3.2% over asking. Its ratio of 0.7 means there are more active listings than homes under contract, and days on market average 20.2. Rahway, the newest addition to the tracking, is even softer, with 1.2% over asking, 30.2 days on market, and a ratio of 0.3.
Year-to-date, Maplewood has closed 156 sales, with 137 of those from listings taken this year, indicating little carryover inventory is dragging on numbers. Livingston shows the opposite, with a larger share of its 204 closings tied to older listings, which helps explain its lagging pricing power. Additionally, Slade tracks the number of exclusive listings—homes sold without full market exposure. In Livingston, exclusives made up 10.8% of closings this year, well above the 2-6% seen in other towns, further softening pricing results.
Compared to last year, 2026 is outperforming 2025 across the board. Maplewood’s closed sales represent 87.8% of its year-to-date total compared to 2025, with both percentage over asking and average price climbing meaningfully. South Orange is running at 84.9% of last year’s pace with similar gains. West Orange and Montclair are also trending strong at 80.5% and 88.4%, respectively. Livingston, at 76.5%, continues to move more slowly.
For sellers weighing whether to list before Labor Day or wait, Slade advises waiting until the week after. August is typically the weakest month, and listing during Labor Day week competes with back-to-school activities. Waiting a week allows buyers to settle into routines, historically yielding stronger results. Readers can follow these numbers as they update on the blog for ongoing market coverage.
