Exodus From New Jersey

From the NY Times (Registration Required):

An Exodus Driven by Home Prices

A quest for affordable housing is driving an increasing number of young people, families and empty nesters from the New York suburbs to destinations near and far, a review of migration data by The New York Times shows.

...

"I do think a lot of this movement - to Florida and the exurbs - reflects, in part, a 'housing affordability' movement, or what I have sometimes termed a 'middle-class flight,' " Prof. William Frey, a demographer at the University of Michigan, said in an e-mail message. "They'll move as far out as eastern Pennsylvania, or northern Connecticut. But many are probably looking at Sun Belt markets, including central Florida, Georgia, North Carolina."

...

But more people are leaving northern New Jersey than are arriving, and that gap is growing. The net migration from the older suburban counties of Bergen, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union Counties was 26,889 taxpayers in 2004, up 75 percent from 1996. Essex County, which has a combination of urban and suburban populations, was not included in the analysis.

...

Or, as Mr. Joubert put it, "Compared to New Jersey, they are practically giving houses away down here."

I won't cut/paste the entire article here, but it's definitely worth the time it takes to register. Most interesting, I think, is not the middle class flight out of the suburbs, but the migration of the younger generation inwards to the city. Either way, it seems that Northern NJ residents want to live everywhere but here.

Caveat Emptor,
Grim

Thanks to Metroplexual for making us all aware of this piece.