Jersey Shore Market in Review: February 2026
By Ian Lazarus · August 3, 2026
February 2026 was the quietest month of the shore’s spring season, and the priciest. Across the 13 towns we track, 159 homes closed at a median sold price of $815,000, the highest monthly median we’d record all spring. That’s a mix story, not a price surge: winter closings skew toward the buyers who shop year-round, and in February that meant a heavy tilt toward the islands’ upper end.
A note on timing: we’re writing this in August 2026, looking back with complete records in hand. With both shore MLSes now feeding our data platform, we’ve recomputed the spring months on full coverage, so these figures include every closed sale from Cape May County MLS and South Jersey Shore Regional, deduplicated, not just what one system showed at the time.
February 2026 by the numbers
| Metric | February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Closed sales | 159 |
| Median sold price | $815,000 |
| 25th percentile sold price | $345,000 |
| 75th percentile sold price | $1,541,250 |
| New listings | 313 |
| Median days on market | 98 |
| Median sale-to-list ratio | 0.9718 (97.2% of final list) |
What the numbers show
The spread tells the February story better than the median does. A quarter of sales closed under $345,000 (largely Atlantic City condos and entry-level units up the coast), while a quarter closed above $1,541,250, the widest top quartile of the spring. When the high end makes up that much of a small month, the median lands high. The median sale was $815,000; that’s what sold, not a measure of appreciation.
Pace was unhurried. The median February closing had spent 98 days on market (the longest of any month we’d track through July), which fits homes that listed in late fall and negotiated through the winter. (Days-on-market figures here are aggregates for market-report use only; we don’t publish per-listing DOM on the site.) Even so, sellers who closed held their ground: the median sale landed at 97.2% of final list price, right in the 97 to 98% band that held all spring.
Supply was building underneath the quiet. 313 new listings hit the market against 159 closings (roughly two fresh listings for every sale), the early inventory that would feed March and April’s much busier closing tables. By property type, condos and townhouses led the month with 92 of the 159 sales, ahead of 53 single-family homes.
Town callouts
Ocean City was February’s volume leader with 37 closed sales at a median of $1,350,000: 29 of them condos and townhouses. Sellers there closed at a median 98.3% of final list, and another 82 new listings arrived during the month, the largest single-town pipeline on the shore.
Sea Isle City posted the month’s most striking negotiating stat: across 15 sales at a median of $1,749,000, the median sale-to-list ratio was 1.000: the typical Sea Isle seller got full final asking price, in February.
Atlantic City anchored the other end of the price spectrum with 30 sales at a median of $160,000, plus 62 new listings, proof that the shore’s most affordable beachfront market stays liquid straight through winter. That low median reflects Atlantic City’s mix of condos and compact housing stock, not a comment on any single property.
Cape May, Longport, and Stone Harbor each closed fewer than five sales in February, below our reporting floor, so we’re not quoting town-level medians there.
What this means if you’re buying or selling
If you were buying in February, the numbers describe a patient market: a median 98 days on market meant most sellers had been listed for a full season, yet the 97.2% sale-to-list median shows closed deals still landed near ask. Winter didn’t mean discounts. It meant selection and time to think.
If you were selling, February’s lesson is about the pipeline. With 313 new listings entering against 159 closings, homes listed in February were positioning for the spring buyer wave rather than competing for winter’s smaller pool. The sellers who closed did so near full price; they just waited longer for it.
No predictions here, just what the closed sales say. For current figures, our market data hub updates daily.
February 2026 FAQ
What was the median home sale price at the Jersey Shore in February 2026?
$815,000 across the 13 towns we track, the highest monthly median of spring 2026. The middle half of sales ranged from $345,000 to $1,541,250, and that unusually top-heavy mix of what sold is what pushed the median up.
How long did it take homes to sell in February 2026?
The median February closing had spent 98 days on market, the slowest month of the spring window, a figure that would tighten to 73 days by April. These are aggregate figures across all 159 sales, not per-listing stats.
Did Jersey Shore sellers get asking price in February 2026?
Close to it: the median sale closed at 97.2% of final list price. Sea Isle City stood out at a median of 100% of final ask across its 15 sales.
About this series: written in August 2026 as a look back at the spring market, on full both-MLS coverage. Data: 159 closed sales across the 13 towns we track, deduplicated across both shore MLSes.