Anthony Licciardello | July 4, 2026
Montclair, NJ
Moving to Montclair · Essex County, NJ
Not long ago, a $2 million sale was a Montclair headline. Today it barely raises an eyebrow. The town's luxury ceiling has risen fast, with record medians, a surge of multi-million-dollar sales, and a handful of trophy estates testing prices that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Here's a look at the records Montclair keeps setting, the homes pushing the top, and what it all signals — drawn from public records and market data.
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This is part of our complete guide to moving to Montclair. For the full market picture, see home prices by neighborhood and the neighborhoods guide.
Record Median
Monthly medians topped $1.66M in 2025–2026.
$3M+ Club
Ten homes sold above $3M in 2025.
Trophy Tier
Estate-Section mansions have tested $7–8.5M asks.
New Standard
$3M is the new luxury benchmark, up from $2M.
The town's price records have fallen in quick succession. A monthly median sale price of $1,600,357 in May 2025 broke the prior record of $1,513,666 set in June 2024 — and then April 2026 set a fresh median record near $1,660,000, up sharply from about $1,306,375 a year earlier. Averages tell the same story, with the 2025 townwide average sale price climbing to roughly $1.42 million. These aren't isolated spikes; they reflect a market that has re-rated upward year after year, with medians in some months exceeding averages, a sign of broad-based strength rather than a few outliers.
The clearest sign of the shift is at the high end. In 2025, roughly 52 homes sold between $2 and $3 million — up dramatically from about 31 the year before — and 10 homes sold above $3 million, up from 7. What was once a rarefied threshold has become a well-populated tier. Longtime observers describe $3 million as the new luxury benchmark, replacing the old $2 million line. For a town of Montclair's size, that depth of multi-million-dollar activity is remarkable, and it's redrawing what "high end" even means here.
Did You Know
A widely reported sale of about $9.5 million sits on land straddling the Montclair and Cedar Grove border — so it isn't counted as a Montclair-only record, even though it's among the priciest homes in the immediate area.
Two Estate-area landmarks show how high Montclair's ceiling has climbed. Daybreak, at 88 South Mountain Avenue, is a Georgian mansion built in 1890 that last changed hands for $1,187,500 in 2013; after a top-to-bottom restoration, the eight-bedroom estate — with a two-story indoor pool, a spa, and a four-car carriage house holding a two-bedroom apartment and greenhouse, carrying annual taxes near $61,936 — came to market in 2024 at $7,499,000, seeking to set a town record. Nearby, 159 Gates Avenue, a Tudor manor crafted in 1910 by the firm Van Vleck & Goldsmith, was purchased for $2,455,000 in 2016, underwent a multi-year contemporary renovation, and was listed in 2024 at $8,500,000. Together they mark a trophy tier — roughly $7 to $8.5 million — that simply didn't exist in Montclair a generation ago.
The luxury surge tells you something about the whole town. Most of the record activity clusters in the Estate Section and Upper Montclair, where the grandest homes and largest lots are, and much of it is renovation-driven — historic mansions restored to a modern standard command the biggest prices. All-cash buyers have become common at the top, insulating the high end from interest-rate swings. For a buyer anywhere in Montclair, the takeaway is that demand for the best homes remains fierce, and pricing at the top pulls the rest of the market with it. Knowing where the ceiling is helps you read every price below it.
Insider Tip
Record-setting sales are public record, but the final price on a quiet ultra-luxury deal can take time to surface. If you're benchmarking the very top of the market, work from recorded deeds, not just list prices.
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From the Broker
The ceiling keeps moving up, and it drags the whole market with it. Knowing what the trophies trade for helps me price everything beneath them.
Buying or selling at the top?
Whether you're chasing a trophy home or pricing one to sell, we work from recorded sales, not guesswork. The Prodigy Team moves New York and Staten Island families into New Jersey for a living. We work both sides of the water.
Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
Montclair's trophy tier has tested asking prices in the $7 to $8.5 million range, led by Estate-area landmarks like Daybreak at 88 South Mountain Avenue and 159 Gates Avenue. A widely reported sale near $9.5 million straddles the Montclair and Cedar Grove border, so it isn't counted as a Montclair-only record.
In 2025, about 10 homes sold above $3 million and roughly 52 sold between $2 and $3 million — both up significantly from the prior year. Longtime observers now describe $3 million as the town's luxury benchmark.
Monthly median sale prices set records above $1.6 million in 2025 and near $1.66 million in 2026, with a townwide average around $1.42 million for 2025.
Most record-setting sales are in the Estate Section and Upper Montclair, home to the grandest houses and largest lots, with many of the top prices going to historic mansions that have been fully restored.
The Prodigy Team · Montclair, NJ
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