Why Do North Wildwood Pages Show Such Different Prices? Reading Second Homes, Condominiums and the Census Vacancy Count

Why do the North Wildwood prices differ so much?

The pages measure different things. The brokerage overview's $767,388 is labeled a median sales price and carries no window. Zillow's $666,319 is a value index for the city, not a sale, and its page says April. The tracker's $600,000 is a six-month median of closings for the Wildwood postal area, which the Census puts at 12,959 residents, not North Wildwood alone, and the property-data page's $729,000 is a median single-family price that rests on three sales. The overview figure is 15.2% above Zillow's and 27.9% above the tracker's, both computed here, and each page answers a different question.

The counts disagree by more than the prices do. The brokerage report lists 13 active homes where the overview shows 90, a ratio of 6.9, computed here. It lists 21 sales over five months, about 4 a month, where the tracker counts 173 over six months, about 29 a month, so the tracker's pace is 8.2 times the report's. The property-data page counts 3 sales in twelve months and 228 residential properties, and the Census counts 23,064 homes, so its property count is 1.0% of the Census's. The postal-area counts are plausibly larger than a single town's, but the property-data count is too small to be a market and should not be used as one.

The movements point in different directions, as far as the pages say. Zillow shows a 9.5% rise to $666,319, which implies about $608,500 a year earlier, computed here. The overview shows no change from the last quarter. The brokerage report's sold average of $656,423 sits 1.5% below Zillow's value, which makes the two nearly the same, while its active-listing average of $1,001,492 is 1.5 times its sold average. A seller's asking prices run well above sold prices in this report, and that is the one pattern it supports. It reflects the mix of homes on offer, which includes large houses, as much as any gap between asking and selling.

None of the pages gives the mix. A report whose tables list a studio at $164,900 and a house at $2.4 million produces averages that fit neither. This brief computed medians from the report's own sold table and found a median sold price of $540,000 against an average of $656,423, a gap of 21.6%, which is the same skew in smaller form. These medians are this brief's arithmetic on a list of 21 sales, not a published figure.

What do the listings, sales and clocks show?

The brokerage report's 21 sales ran from March 31 to August 28, 2026. Of them, 14 closed below the list price, 3 at the list price and 4 above, computed here from the table. Its averages give a sold-to-list ratio of 96.9%, which is an average of averages, and the median sold price was $540,000 with a low of $160,000 and a high of $1,400,000. Eight of the 21 sold under $400,000 and 4 sold at $1 million or more, and 11 of the 21 addresses carry a unit number, which suggests condominium-style sales, an inference. At 96.9%, the gap on a $656,423 average sale is about $20,951, an illustration computed here and not a fact about any one home.

The report's own tables show the mix more plainly than its averages do. Its 13 active homes have a median list price of $775,000, with 5 listed under $500,000 and 4 at $1 million or more, and the highest is $2.4 million. Its 8 under-contract rows have a median of $837,450, though one property appears twice at the same price, so the page probably counts it double and the real count is 7. The median active list price is 1.4 times the median sold price of $540,000, computed here, which is the report's one clear sign that sellers are asking more than buyers are paying. It is a comparison of two different groups of homes, and not of the same homes before and after a price change.

Condominium-style sales dominate the low end. Of the report's 21 sales, 8 closed under $400,000, and the lowest, at $160,000, was a one-bedroom unit of 300 square feet. At the other end, 4 closed at $1 million or more, with the highest at $1,400,000. The distance between them is a factor of 8.8, computed here. A buyer of a studio near the boardwalk and a buyer of a four-bedroom house inland are in the same table and in different markets, which is why a single median is a poor guide for a seller of either.

Price per square foot adds a third disagreement. The brokerage report gives an average of $718 for its active homes, $581 for the under-contract rows and $669 for its sold homes. The tracker gives a median of $437 for the postal area, so the report's sold figure is 1.5 times it, computed here. The report's figures are averages of 8 to 21 homes, and many are small condominium units, which carry a higher price per foot than large houses, as its own table shows: a 300-square-foot unit sold at $533 and a 446-square-foot unit at $683. A figure per foot that is high because the units are small does not say that the market is expensive, and a seller of a large house should not read it as a value.

The clocks are not in that report, where every days-on-market cell reads unknown. A second brokerage's closed-sales page lists 29 North Wildwood closings dated January 2026 and none later, though its title says 2026. This brief computed from its table a median sold price of $775,000 and a median of 115 days on market, with a range of 34 to 344 days and a price range from $228,000 to $2,499,999. Ten of the 29 sold under $500,000 and 12 at $1 million or more, computed here. The page looks stale or truncated and is not used as a market figure, and a January median says little about summer.

The tracker gives the one clean clock: a median of 22 days from listing to contract across 53 closings, and 28 days from contract to closing across 44. The two add to 50 days, a sum that assumes the two medians come from similar sales. Compare that with the 115-day January median computed above. The gap is plausible for a shore town, since winter listings sit longer, but it is an inference and the pages do not test it. The tracker also says its middle half of sales closed between $452,500 and $705,000, so the upper edge is 1.6 times the lower.

The overview's 90 active listings and the report's 13 differ, and neither says whether it counts condominiums and land. Zillow's page does not show a clock at all. A seller trying to learn how long a home takes to sell finds a range from 22 days to more than 100, with no page showing a clock for a specific type of home, and that is the practical meaning of the disagreement.

Sources as cited. The windows, areas and measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

What does the Census say about North Wildwood homes, owners and vacancies?

The Census postal area that includes North Wildwood has 23,064 housing units and 12,959 residents. Only 7,101 homes are occupied, 30.8%. Vacant homes number 15,963, 69.2%, and of those 15,002 are held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, 94.0% of the vacant total and 65.0% of all homes. The rest are 639 for rent, 2.8% of all homes, 50 rented but not yet occupied, 59 for sale, 0.3%, 48 sold but not yet occupied and 165 in the other category. The count describes the postal area, which is larger than the town. It still says that most homes here are second homes or rentals used by the week, and that the sales the pages count are mostly of homes people do not live in all year.

Building types explain some of the price spread. Detached houses number 7,561, 32.8%, and attached houses 9,016, 39.1%, which is the largest group and fits the townhouse and duplex-style stock of a shore town. Buildings of two to four units hold 2,999, 13.0%, buildings of five or more hold 3,112, 13.5%, and there are 376 mobile homes, 1.6%. A median that mixes a detached beach house with a unit in a small building is a median of two goods. The median year built is 1975, and the 2000s are the largest decade, with 4,846 homes, 21.0%. Homes built before 1980 number 12,768, 55.4%.

Among the 7,101 occupied homes, 4,886 are owned, 68.8%, and 2,215 are rented, 31.2%. Among owners, 2,377 moved in since 2010, 48.7%, and 1,523 moved in before 2000, 31.2%, with 838 owners, 17.2%, in the same home since 1989 or earlier. Among renters, 917 moved in since 2020, 41.4%, and 82.8% since 2010, all computed here. Year-round residents are a smaller group than the housing stock suggests, and long-time owners are a large part of it.

The vacancy figures are a reminder that a postal area's housing count and its sales count are different populations, since most of the homes counted are never listed in any given year. Rentals add a second layer. The Census counts 639 homes vacant and for rent, and 2,215 occupied homes rented, so about 2,854 homes were in the rental market at the survey's count, 12.4% of all homes, computed here. Those figures do not include the second homes that owners rent out by the week in summer, which the Census may count as seasonal or as occupied depending on the survey date. The practical point is that the shore's stock is used in more ways than a sales median can capture: as a primary home, as a rental, as an owner's own summer house and as an investment, and a buyer's or seller's reason for owning changes what the home is worth to them.

The Census median owner value is $469,400, with a margin of error of $30,439, 6.5% of the value. It counts only owner-occupied homes, which are the 4,886 lived in, and leaves out the second homes that sit vacant, which is the likeliest reason it is far below the other figures. It is 70.4% of the Zillow value of $666,319 and 78.2% of the tracker's median of $600,000, computed here. The median household income is $79,699 and the median rent is $1,072 a month, which is $12,864 a year, 16.1% of that income. The Zillow value is 8.4 times the median income, a rough ratio of two medians. Readers comparing markets can also read the Point Pleasant Beach brief and the Florham Park brief.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25024, B25003, B25038, B25004, B25034, B25077, B25064 and B19013. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

The first question is which North Wildwood home it is. A house a few blocks inland, a townhouse near the water and a condominium close to the boardwalk do not share a median, a buyer or a clock. A seller should ask for closed sales of the same type, from the last six months, with the days to contract, the gap between the first ask and the final price, and whether the buyers were second-home buyers or year-round residents.

The second question is what a number measures. Ask whether a figure is for the town or the postal area, a median or an average, a sale or an estimate, and what window it covers. The pages above differ on every one of those points, and the shore's seasonal pattern means a winter figure and a summer figure may describe different markets. A seller who anchors to the property-data page's three sales, or to a January list of closings, will misjudge a home.

The third question is the commission, and the arithmetic is simple. Each 1% of $600,000 is $6,000. At 3% the figure is $18,000 and at 5% it is $30,000. At $729,000, each 1% is $7,290, 3% is $21,870 and 5% is $36,450. At $767,388, each 1% is $7,674, 3% is $23,022 and 5% is $38,369. These illustrate the size of each percentage point and are not quotes of any rate a seller would be charged. No page in this brief names a North Wildwood commission rate, and the medians are not the price of any one home.

The fourth question is timing. In a place where 65.0% of homes are seasonal, many owners live elsewhere and decide to sell when the summer ends, and a public listing means showings that have to be scheduled around tenants, weekly renters and the owner's own travel. A private sale has no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale.

The benefits are plain. Maison Off-Market buys luxury homes and estates directly from their owners and speaks only to sellers. A private sale has no showings. It allows closing dates that give a seller time to find a new home, or to close after a rental season. It has no commission costs and no closing costs, and it avoids inspection repairs, which matters for a postal area where 55.4% of homes predate 1980, though the Census says nothing about the condition of any one house. The company does not say that a private sale always beats a public listing, and in a place where one page shows $600,000 and another $767,388, an owner is right to ask what each route yields. If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a North Wildwood home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

The brokerage overview gives a median with no window and a listing count far above another page's. The brokerage report is a live-feed table whose clock cells are empty and whose averages mix studios and large houses. The sold-price tracker covers the Wildwood postal area, which includes more than North Wildwood. The Zillow page says it was updated on April 30, 2026. The property-data page counts 3 sales and 228 properties, which cannot be a market. The closed-sales page shows only January 2026 closings and is treated as stale. Medians for the report and the closed-sales page are this brief's arithmetic on the listed sales, and street addresses in those tables were not repeated. The Census figures are five-year estimates for a postal area, and the median owner value counts occupied homes only. Percent changes were taken as printed, and the implied prior-year value is this brief's arithmetic.

Conclusion

The North Wildwood record shows prices from $600,000 to $767,388, counts of active listings from 13 to 90, clocks from 22 days to well over 100 and a postal area where 65.0% of homes are held for seasonal use. The pages differ because they count different homes in different months, and the useful figure for an owner is the one for the same type of home near the same blocks.