Here in NJ, the RE trend is astoundingly crazy right now. Being that we are right out of NYC (where the numbers were hit the hardest back in the beginning of COVID) we have a rush of buyers who were likely planning to head to the suburbs before the pandemic hit, who are now trying to close.
As a few examples, I have a friend who had a listing for $975,000 in South Orange NJ. Her client's offer was #12 in the bidding war, and was at asking. The house just closed for $1,112,000.
Another house in the $375,000 listing price had 40 offers! 40!!! I don't know the selling price of it, but needless to say, it's well above asking. This is a trend for most homes here in North Jersey. It's very hard for buyers who were holding out, but phenomenal if you are selling. The fact that most people can work from home who have office jobs in the city, is the big push to flee to the suburbs. Why work in a tiny NYC apartment under complete lockdown, when you can do your work on a sprawling backyard and able to take walks around town in the afternoon? That's the motive here mostly.
I imagine things will settle once a vaccine comes out, the but net result is higher prices and a crazy summer market, especially in Essex/Bergen County.