Somerset County had 215 townhouses and condos for sale in September 2026. A year earlier it had 133. That is a 61.7% jump, and it is the kind of figure that makes a townhome owner in Hillsborough wonder whether everyone on the block decided to list at once.
They didn't. In the same New Jersey REALTORS® report, new townhouse-condo listings for September rose from 110 to 117, an increase of seven homes. Closed sales fell from 82 to 71. The stack of unsold townhomes grew because homes are taking longer to find buyers. The number of sellers barely changed. That difference shapes what a buyer can ask for this fall and what a seller should expect.
How 133 Became 215
The September numbers alone could be a one-month blip, so the year-to-date figures are a better test. From January through September 2026, Somerset County saw 984 new townhouse-condo listings, compared with 941 over the same months of 2025. Closed sales over that stretch fell from 742 to 690.
Put those together. Nine months brought 43 more townhomes to market and 52 fewer closings. Taken together, that comes close to the 82-home rise in inventory. Most of the buildup is homes that would have sold by now at last year's pace and are still listed.
| Somerset County townhouse-condo | September 2025 | September 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New listings | 110 | 117 | +6.4% |
| Closed sales | 82 | 71 | -13.4% |
| Days on market until sale | 30 | 39 | +30.0% |
| Percent of list price received | 102.0% | 100.0% | -2.0% |
| Inventory | 133 | 215 | +61.7% |
| Months of supply | 1.6 | 2.9 | +81.3% |
Days on market tells the same story from the buyer's side. A September 2026 townhome sale in Somerset County took 39 days on average, up from 30 a year earlier. Sellers listed at about the same rate. Buyers took longer to commit.
Townhomes Lost Their Head Start
For most of the past few years, townhomes were the tighter part of the market. In September 2025, Somerset County had 1.6 months of townhouse-condo supply, against 2.5 months for single-family homes. A buyer shopping in the lower price band faced more competition than one looking at detached homes.
By September 2026, both segments sat at 2.9 months of supply. Single-family homes loosened too, though more gently. Inventory rose 12.3%, from 431 to 484, and buyers paid 101.5% of list price on average, down from 102.5%. Year to date, single-family new listings were nearly flat, up 0.9%, while closings fell 4.2%. That is the same pattern of slower buying with steady selling, only milder.
So the townhome segment, which had been the harder place to get a deal, has caught up to single-family homes. For a Hillsborough buyer deciding between the two, the competitive pressure is about equal for the first time in a while. The choice can come back to space, maintenance and budget rather than which segment is easier to win in.
New Construction Isn't the Source Either
When inventory rises this fast, new construction is a natural suspect. In Hillsborough, the nearest projects are either not built or not for sale.
The largest proposed townhouse project in town is Valley Road Realty LLC's plan for a vacant 45-acre tract along Valley Road. As Patch reported in July, the application calls for 199 units: 140 market-rate townhouses across 23 buildings, plus one 59-unit apartment building. The plan still needs preliminary and final site plan approval. The Planning Board's posted agenda shows the application has been adjourned several times. It is now set for the December 10, 2026 meeting, and the applicant has extended the board's deadline through January 15, 2027. None of those townhouses can count toward this fall's inventory, and they won't for a long time.
The project closest to finished is a rental. At 5 Campus Drive, Campus Associates, LLC is building 96 apartments in four three-story buildings. In June, the project's attorney told the Planning Board that all four buildings were framed and that the developer expected first tenants sometime in October, according to Patch. TAPinto Hillsborough reported in May that Fernmoor is marketing the community as Mi-Place at Hillsborough. As of late September, the leasing site said pre-leasing was "starting soon." Because these are rentals, they won't show up in for-sale townhouse counts whenever they open.
So no developer is flooding the market. The extra inventory is resale townhomes, many of them in established communities, waiting longer for the right buyer.
What Slower Absorption Does at the Offer Table
When inventory grows from slow sales, the change shows up first in terms. List prices adjust later. In September 2026, Somerset County townhome buyers paid 100.0% of list price on average, down from 102.0% a year earlier. That two-point drop takes away the routine over-asking premium that defined townhome purchases not long ago.
Prices themselves are moving less than the inventory figure suggests. The September townhouse-condo median was $465,000, down 6.1% from $495,000. Year to date, the median sat at $460,000 in both 2025 and 2026. A single month of 71 closings can swing on which homes happened to sell, and the report itself warns that small samples can make percent changes look extreme. The nine-month figure says prices have held. The September figure says buyers are less willing to pay above them.
The same footnote has one more point that matters here. NJ REALTORS® median and list-price figures do not account for seller concessions. In a slowing segment, concessions are often where the negotiating happens, so the true net to sellers may be a little softer than 100.0% suggests.
For a Hillsborough buyer, all this means time to think. An extra week or two of market time lets you schedule a second showing, review association documents carefully and ask for repairs or credits that would have sunk an offer a year ago.
What It Means for a Hillsborough Townhome Seller
Sellers face the other side of that math. With 2.9 months of supply, a townhome listed in late October is competing with more active listings than the same home would have faced in fall 2025. Most of those listings aren't new. They're homes that have been sitting, and their owners may be ready to negotiate.
That changes the pricing strategy. Since list-to-sale ratios have settled near 100%, pricing a little high and counting on a bidding war to make up the difference is a weaker bet. Pricing accurately against the homes that have already been listed for a while gives a seller the best chance to stand out. Planning for a timeline closer to 39 days than 30 keeps a purchase contingency or a move date from turning into pressure to accept a weak offer.
A Few Questions This Raises
Are these figures specific to Hillsborough? No. They cover Somerset County as a whole. New Jersey REALTORS® publishes county reports publicly, but its town-level monthly reports are available only to REALTORS®, so a Hillsborough-only breakdown has to come from an agent.
Should single-family buyers expect the same leverage? Some, but less. Single-family inventory rose 12.3% and buyers still paid 101.5% of list on average in September 2026. That segment loosened, but more slowly than townhomes.
When could the Valley Road townhouses affect supply? Not soon. The application is scheduled for the Planning Board's December 10, 2026 meeting and still needs site plan approval before construction could begin.
If you own a townhome in Hillsborough or are weighing one against a single-family home, the county numbers only get you partway. I can pull the Hillsborough Township town report and go through how your community's listings and sale prices compare with what's happening across Somerset County this fall. Reach out to Karen Boose - Coldwell Banker Realty and let's connect.
