Affordability, cost of living, and property taxes – all concerns for New Jerseyans according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll conducted last month in collaboration with the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey.
In fact, more than half of New Jerseyans say their housing costs aren’t affordable (33% “not very,” 18% “not at all”) and that it is only getting more difficult to pay them (56%).
Three-quarters of respondents blame the lack of housing affordability on incomes not keeping pace with housing cost increases (42%) and the housing price increases themselves (33%); about one in 10 (11%) cite mortgage rates, 4% say homebuying surges, and 1% say housing construction slowdowns.
Twenty-seven percent report spending less than one-third of their total monthly household income on rent or mortgage payments each month, 38% say they spend one-third to half of their total monthly household income, and 25% spend more than half.
“Views on housing affordability in the Garden State have not improved in our polling over time,” Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick said.
Poll respondents are supportive of legislative measures to address housing affordability, including preserving the New Jersey Affordable Housing Trust Fund for its intended purpose – housing development and rehabilitation – as well as other measures to address housing costs.
“New Jerseyans are being squeezed by rising rents, mortgages, utility and grocery costs,” Staci Berger, president and chief executive officer of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey said.
When it comes to a number of other measures meant to make housing more affordable, 69% support offering first-generation homebuyers down payment assistance, 61% of New Jerseyans support adopting statewide rent control, and 53% support increasing rental assistance.
When asked whether they would support or oppose New Jersey enacting a surcharge on the sale of luxury homes exceeding $2 million, 60% of respondents support it, 25% oppose it, and 16% are unsure.
Results are from a statewide poll of 1,058 adults contacted through the probability-based Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel from April 1 to April 10. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
A copy of the poll with the tables can be viewed here.
