One unexpected result arising from 2020, the year of Covid, is the sustained boom in New Jersey Shore real estate. Several factors have played their role in this. Following the arrival of the pandemic in March of last year, normal market activity froze temporarily, creating a backlog of home buyers. Interest rates hit record lows and even with some increases of late, they remain very attractive. A sellers market developed as increases in demand outstripped supply leaving us at current levels of scarcity of homes for sale.
Most importantly was the exodus of families from nearby urban centers looking for alternative living in areas that give them space and a feeling of relative safety from the pandemic.
In the early days of the pandemic fear grew in the county that the crowds that our economy depends on in the summer would not materialize. It was a misplaced fear. People came and they stayed longer. In fact, many are still here. Current water usage statistics, tons of waste to the landfill, sewer flows to the MUA, and calls for emergency service all are showing increases over January and February of 2020, especially in our island communities. Second homeowners have become longer term residents. Some have relocated here; more have decided to use their vacation homes as a true second residence.
The internet is facilitating daily life in ways and to extents unheard of prior to the pandemic. It is the basis for work and school.
Even though all of us believe kids need in-person instruction, it is likely that schools will now rely more heavily on online education modalities as a way to individualize instruction even as they return to group in-person learning.
We have all learned new ways to work and even collaborate from home. The traditional hard separation of work space and home space is not likely to return. Various hybrid forms that involve degrees of work from anywhere will insert themselves into the “new normal.”
All of this offers opportunities for Cape May County. I am not speaking merely of opportunities for rising home values, but rather of ways to address our long-standing drift into a smaller and smaller permanent population with high unemployment in offseason months and a rising percentage of living units unoccupied for the majority of the year.
Winter rentals are up according to the New Jersey Shore Rental Coalition. People who used to rent want to buy. People are booking summer rentals earlier and in greater numbers. In fact, agents warn that summer rentals will be harder to find.
What all of this says is that the year of Covid has changed things in ways that mean we may not return to the old normal at all. The opportunity in this is that we have the chance to influence what happens in the county. That takes planning. From schools to transportation routes like the long dormant Route 55 completion, from rental rules to 5G data streaming technology, and from dining and liquor consumption regulations to economic development prospects, things are going to be more pliable for a period of time.
When things are fluid the time is ripe for nudging change in the direction you want it to go. The internet has transformed the world monumentally, and will monumentally alter Cape May County forever, integrating us into the commerce of our state and region. Economically, a large proportion of our population have failed to thrive to this point. Change is being thrust upon us; how we manage that it will significantly determine how our children and grandchildren flourish. To achieve our full potential, we should not continue to think separately, in each of our sixteen municipalities. In great measure, the county must lead.
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From the Bible: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11
