By Scott Garrett, For The Trentonian
Why is it so hard to afford a home in New Jersey?
There’s an abundance of reasons—and they’re not always what Trenton wants us to hear.
There’s no question that New Jersey has become an expensive place to live. The cost of living here is 11 percent higher than the national average, and this is driven overwhelmingly by housing, which is an astonishing 30 percent higher than the national average.
Some of that is due to our state’s proximity to New York City. Living costs there are even worse, pushing people into New Jersey’s bedroom communities and driving up prices.
But supply is also a major problem. New Jersey doesn’t build enough or rehabilitate enough older homes. Experts estimate the state needs accommodate 85,000 affordable new homes over the next decade and refurbish 65,000 existing units.
Our state is tied with Ohio for the sixth-oldest housing stock in the country. The average house here is 52 years old—meaning not just a lack of inventory, but costly maintenance that pushes prices even higher.
Add to that the highest property taxes in the country. No wonder more residents moved out of New Jersey in 2024 than any other state—an honor the Garden State has claimed for seven years running.
Yet despite all those outbound U-Hauls, there still aren’t enough homes. Blame New Jersey’s high costs, red tape, and regulations.
Yes, some reforms have passed. But this is still New Jersey. Trenton Democrats love their big-government bureaucracy and taxes.
Here, you’re taxed on your home, utilities, gas, tolls, parking, food, your paycheck, and even your inheritance. Almost every step of life comes with a fee.
Rather than acknowledge that excessive taxation and regulations are the problem, Trenton decided to scapegoat new technology for making our rents more expensive.
In April, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced he was suing the algorithmic pricing software New Jersey’s landlords consult for rent pricing recommendations.
All this software does is use market data to give real-time updates on property valuations. It’s no different than the technology we all use to find cheap flight and hotel deals.
Put another way, Platkin has decided to point the finger at a piece of reporting software for New Jersey’s housing costs, which is akin to suing Hotwire.com because hotel or car rental rates are getting more expensive. And it’s not just Platkin. Nationwide, this software has become a convenient scapegoat for politicians looking to distract from their failures on housing.
That’s right: over the last four years, New Jersey saw some of the steepest inflation in decades, including on mortgages and rents, thanks in part to the federal government hiking government spending by 22 percent. Yet, this new technology is apparently to blame for housing price increases, not the inflation induced by the federal government.
All this finger-pointing won’t fix what’s broken in New Jersey. We need reform — reform that jumpstarts housing construction, breathes new life into our aging homes, and shifts our focus from endless suburban sprawl to smarter use of the infrastructure we already have. If we want to live up to our name as the Garden State, we should start cultivating something that grows opportunity — affordable homes, vibrant communities, and a future that makes people want to stay rather than leave.
Unreasonable zoning processes, endless permits and costly coding restrictions, extensive delays in the building approval process, a construction worker shortage—these are the issues Trenton should be tackling. Just talk to any anyone who has been in the home construction businesses for a while and they will easily list for you of the many ways Trenton makes repairing old homes and build new ones extremely difficult.
It’s time for New Jersey to fix the problem. Its leaders should follow the lead of states that have proven it can be done. We don’t need another anti-business crusade from activist Democrats. That won’t solve anything — it will only make things worse.
Scott Garrett served as a member of Congress from New Jersey from 2003 to 2017.
