New home construction in Sea Isle's hot real estate market is adding to the city's tax base.
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
New housing construction cooled off a bit in Sea Isle City in 2021, but an upswing in home renovation projects kept the real estate market humming overall, according to newly released figures.
Neil Byrne, the city’s construction official, said an emerging trend in 2021 was for homeowners to renovate and update their houses that were built about 20 years ago during Sea Isle’s first wave of development and began showing their age.
“We’re down a little bit for new construction. But last year we really noticed that renovations are up,” he said in an interview Monday. “As we’re losing new construction, we’re getting more and more renovations and additions.”
Byrne said his office issued 72 permits in 2021 for renovation projects and home additions, a number that was significantly higher than in recent years.
There was a slight dip, though, in the number of new housing units built in 2021 compared to 2020, according to statistics compiled by Byrne’s office.
In 2021, a total of 56 housing units were constructed, including 48 duplex units and eight single-family homes. There were 52 duplex units and 12 single-family homes built in 2020.
Sea Isle’s new housing market is dominated by the ever-popular duplexes. Over the last five years, an average of 57 duplex units were built each year compared to about 11 single-family homes on an annual basis, figures show.
Avoiding any wild swings up or down, the city’s housing market has maintained pretty much of a steady pace over the past 10 years, Byrne said.
“We’re pretty consistent, which shows that Sea Isle is a place you want to be with construction in the housing market,” he said.
Construction Official Neil Byrne and Planning and Zoning Board Secretary Genell Ferrilli review Sea Isle's housing statistics.
With only a scarce amount of developable land available in the beach resort, new construction is often being done on property where old homes were demolished.
For 2021, a total of 35 housing units were demolished, including 27 single-family homes, seven duplexes and one triplex. Overall, 52 housing units were demolished in 2020, including 36 duplexes and 16 single-family homes, figures show.
Most of the time, demolished single-family homes are replaced with duplexes. But Byrne said a number of duplexes were torn down in 2021 to create room for construction of new single-family homes.
“They’re taking duplexes and turning them into singles,” he said.
In recent years, Sea Isle has been evolving into a more upscale resort town featuring multimillion-dollar vacation homes lining the beachfront and bays
Sea Isle has now become a million-dollar housing market – reflecting a boom fueled by low mortgage rates, a surging stock market and the shore being seen as a safe haven from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The median sale price for homes in Sea Isle has now jumped well above $1 million and shows no signs of significantly slowing down because demand is high and inventory is low, real estate agents say.
“Construction wise, we’re dealing with the same vein. Sea Isle is still a hot real estate market,” Byrne pointed out. “Between new construction and renovations, the housing market is still strong.”
An old home at the corner of 42nd Street and Pleasure Avenue is demolished in October 2021.
Byrne said homeowners find Sea Isle attractive because of its oceanfront location, relatively low property taxes, a stable local government and an array of family-friendly attractions, such as the nearly $1 million fishing pier and kayak launch facility built last year by the city on the bayfront.
“The administration and City Council are working together to make it a desirable location,” Byrne said. “You ask people why they want to come to Sea Isle and they’ll say because it’s well-run and there are things to do.”
