By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s housing market is humming again.
After experiencing a decline in 2022, there was a solid increase in the number of single-family homes and duplexes built in 2023.
Figures released Monday by the city’s construction office show that a total of 58 housing units were built in 2023, compared to just 34 in 2022.
Sea Isle’s ever-popular duplexes continued to dominate the market in 2023. Altogether, 46 duplex units were built. Eight single-family homes and one quadraplex rounded out the rest of the new construction in 2023.
Neil Byrne, the city’s construction official, noted that 2023’s numbers were nearly identical to the 56 housing units built in 2021 and were more in line with Sea Isle’s historic trends after a slight slump in 2022.
“This is more like the historic number,” he said of the 58 housing units built in 2023. “We average 55 to 60 units year in and year out.”
Avoiding any wild swings up or down, he pointed out that the city’s housing market has maintained pretty much of a steady pace over the past 10 years.
Byrne said homeowners find Sea Isle attractive because of its oceanfront location, relatively low property taxes, family-friendly attractions and a stable local government headed by Mayor Leonard Desiderio and the five-member City Council.
“Sea Isle is still a desirable place to live. We have everything – beaches, nightlife and we’re family-friendly,” Byrne said.
“After being down slightly (in 2022), we’re back to our historic averages. We find that’s a good thing going forward. We’re right back to where we’ve always been. Sea Isle is a place where people want to live,” he added.
In recent years, Sea Isle has been evolving into a more upscale resort town featuring multimillion-dollar vacation homes lining the beachfront and bays.
Key factors such as relatively low mortgage rates and the shore being regarded as a safe haven from the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed up the median sales price for homes in Sea Isle to about $1.3 million, real estate figures show.
With only a scarce amount of developable land available in the beach resort, new construction is often being done on property where old homes are demolished.
In 2023, a total of 28 structures were demolished in Sea Isle, including 20 single-family homes and seven duplexes.
The city also demolished the old public school on Park Road to make room for Sea Isle’s proposed $21 million community recreation center. Construction is expected to begin on the community center in early 2024 and take an estimated 2 to 2½ years to compete.
In addition to new construction, Sea Isle’s housing market also benefits from home renovation projects.
Byrne said renovations are in favor now because owners realize they can save money by updating their older houses or duplexes instead of tearing them down and building brand new homes in Sea Isle’s increasingly upscale real estate market.
“Even with the higher values, people still want to be here,” he said.
More and more homeowners are choosing to renovate their houses that were built about 40 years ago during Sea Isle’s first wave of new development and are now showing their age.
The renovation trend isn’t limited to single-family homes from the 1980s. Duplexes that are about 20 to 25 years old are also getting a facelift, Byrne noted.
“As the housing stock continues to age, we’re seeing bigger renovations to update the places that are 20 to 25 years old,” he said.
