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By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
Medford native William Degnan, 63, bought a retirement home in Marlton, but it didn't suit the active lifestyle he and his wife enjoyed. So the couple decided to return to Medford, where they bought a larger and more expensive home.
Veterinarian Ed Frame, 54, liked Medford so much he moved to a larger home in the township from the living space above his Medford Animal Hospital on Jackson Road.
"It's really paradise," Kathy Frame, 44, said of their new, $350,000 colonial-styled home and property.
Both homeowners paid $300,000 or more for their homes in the Village Point development off Stokes Road. According to area Realtors and United States Census Bureau data, they are typical of many home buyers in Medford today - a more mature third, or fourth-time home buyer who is older in age and has a higher income level.
Local Realtors and real estate developers say the combination of rising home prices here, a drop in new home construction and low mortgage rates is pricing young, first- time home buyers out of Medford's market for single-family homes. And of the almost 100 homes being built here annually now, the trend is for them to be larger, more expensive and increasingly customized compared to the township's existing housing stock.
Area experts agree that the increasing number of mature home buyers in the township is reflected in Medford's changing demographics. While the township's overall population increased by 8.4 percent between 1990 and 2000, the number of residents ages 55 through 59 increased 76.5 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. At the same time, the number of township residents who are 20 through 34-years-old declined by 19.6 percent during the decade, according to the data. Most of that decline occurred in the 20 through 24-year-old age group.
Township Planning Board Director Dennis Funaro said that while hundreds of homes a year were built in past decades, there are now just over 100 building permits issued a year in the township because developable land is becoming scarce.
Funaro said that while the higher prices of new housing stock may be attracting mostly older buyers, the growth in the township's 45 through 59 age range can also be attributed to local baby boomers who tend not to move elsewhere.
Chuck Meyer, a real estate developer with Century 21 Alliance, said the population trend is related at least in part to housing costs, personal income and less developable land. For decades, Meyer's family has operated real estate businesses in Medford and developed many communities under the name of Bob Meyer, Chuck Meyer's father.
"The higher average sales price of new homes and resales has stopped the first and second time buyer from acquiring in Medford because they do not have the cash for a downpayment or the income to pay the mortgage. This means you have to buy a home elsewhere first," said Meyer.
Although the assessed price of the average home in Medford is closing in on $200,000, Meyer said the average market price for a new, four-bedroom colonial is running between $ 350,000 and $400,000 and premium lakefront properties can range from $600,000 and up, he said.
Also holding back first-time buyers of new homes is a a property tax bill which totals $10,454 this year for a home assessed at $350,000.
He said Medford has become popular because it offers a unique draw of woods and lakefront communities.
The Frames bought one of Myer's homes on Stokes Road in Village Point. Ed Frame said the couple stayed in the township because they like the sense of community and the village's atmosphere. They also said that Medford developments are arranged so that there is not the look or feel of suburban sprawl, as in other bedroom communities.
The Degnan's, of Hampshire Way, bought a slightly smaller home than the Frames - a three bedroom Victorian - for about $300,000, but it is also a bigger house than the one they had in the Village Greens in Marlton.
"We are very active adults and did not find Village Greens suitable for us. We also thought Marlton was so big and impersonal. Here, we have the feeling of living in a small town," said William Degnan, a retired federal employee who does consulting work.
Myer said that of existing home sales, a two-story colonial with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a two-car garage in the township will cost at least $225,000. But even older township homes with only three bedrooms, like those in Oakwood Lakes, are selling in higher price ranges, he said.
Valerie D'Esterre Bertsch, a Prudential Fox and Roach broker associate in Medford, said there are few affordable starter homes in Medford in the $150,000 price range and that most need serious repairs.
"If you are looking for anything less, you are not going to find it except in a townhome," she said. The same trend is at work in communities like Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Haddonfield and Cherry Hill, she said.
This year she said buyers bid up from the asking price of some lower priced homes, especially townhomes.
"Typically, they were more difficult to sell, but two bedrooms are going from $80,000 to $90,000 with some over $ 100,000. This is an option for a starter home now," she said.
Meyer said the market for new homes will continue to include increasingly customized, larger and more expensive homes than the township's existing housing stock.
Among the new homes being built now is a Meyer's development called The Bluff at the top of Centennial Lake. Homes there will range from $1.3 to $2.3 million, he said.
"That is how much people value living near the water," he said.
Currently, officials said that the only large-scale development pending in Medford is an almost 600-unit proposal by Stephen Samost. Known as the Easttown and Eayrestown developments, they would be built along Route 70 and include some affordable housing among the hundreds of apartments, townhomes and single family homes.
The plan has been proposed since the mid-1990s and has so far only won preliminary site plan approval.
Myer said he believes property values here will rise in the future, though perhaps not by as much as in the past 10 years.
Today and Tomorrow stories:- Medford improves as growth slows
Already perched between the Pinelands to the east and suburban sprawl to the west, the township finds itself at another crossroads. - Schools prepare for more students
Thirty years ago, the rising tide of kindergarten enrollments here led to their classes being held in churches. - Support for the downtown is drawn from local events
An estimated 20,000 people crowded the downtown at the township's Dickens Festival recently amid character actors, jugglers and a barbershop quartet. - More kids beget more places to play in Medford
Regardless of interests or age, Medford's recreation department strives to offer something for everyone after a boom in recreation facilities here. - Fewer, but costlier, new houses limit first-time buyers in Medford
Medford native William Degnan, 63, bought a retirement home in Marlton, but it didn't suit the active lifestyle he and his wife enjoyed. So the couple decided to return to Medford, where they bought a larger and more expensive home. - Programs abound for rising number of elderly
In the past 10 years, Medford's senior population has risen almost 18 percent and that trend is expected to continue as baby boomers hit their retirement years.