Why New Jersey real estate is outperforming the rest of the country

For decades, outsiders joked about New Jersey being little more than a turnpike connecting New York and Philadelphia.

But with the Garden State recently named the second-best state to live in America — boasting strong schools, relatively low household debt and thriving coastal hubs — the secret is officially out. As national home sales stall, New Jersey’s unique mix of high-paying tech jobs, year-round beach towns and suburban “metroburbs” has transformed it into one of the nation’s leaders in home price growth.

“I think at the end of the day, it comes down to fundamentals, which is, is this a great place to live, a great place to work, a place to raise my family, to live out my life? And New Jersey has so much going for it,” Inspired by Somerset Development CEO and President Ralph Zucker told Fox News Digital.

“You have a little bit of everything, and we’re close to everything. We’re close enough to New York, close enough to Pennsylvania, but we’re no longer a place to connect New York and Philadelphia,” he continued. “New Jersey has very much come into its own, and really it’s always been there, but the secret is out.”

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“I’ve lived in New Jersey all of my life,” longtime Asbury Park resident Karen Nelson also told Fox Digital. “I love everything about New Jersey… It’s just a convenient place to live, and it’s beautiful to live down the shore.”

Asbury Park has become an “all-year round” destination to live, work and play, according to Ralph Zucker and Karen Nelson. (Getty Images)

Data released in July by New Jersey REALTORS showed statewide median home prices ranging between $540,000 and $585,000, reflecting a year-over-year increase of roughly 4.5% to 5.4%. Last week, WalletHub’s 2026 ranking of the best states to live in ranked New Jersey at No. 2, citing its low premature death and obesity rates, among other factors.

Zucker has spent more than 30 years developing residential and commercial spaces in New Jersey, and his firm has more recently leaned into the development of “metroburbs” — suburban spaces that don’t sacrifice urban culture — and changing workplace dynamics.

Bell Works in Holmdel, which Zucker bills as the world’s first “metroburb” and became famous as a filming location for Apple TV’s “Severance,” was 98% leased as of 2025, according to Zucker, who said rental rates have nearly doubled since 2020.

“We coined the term literally to say that you can have a great metropolis in an awesome suburban location. You can have your cake and eat it, too,” he said. “If we could create that metropolis in suburbia… without the commute, without the heartache, without all the stress that comes with getting in and out of,…