Anthony Licciardello | October 6, 2026
Linden, NJ
Fewer than half the homes in Linden are detached single-family houses. The rest are duplexes, converted homes, small apartment buildings and large complexes. Which means the citywide median everyone quotes — whichever of the four you pick — is describing a blend of products that almost no individual buyer is actually shopping for.
Linden is a city of 45,393 on the Arthur Kill with a Northeast Corridor station — and a housing stock that is only 45.17% single-family detached. A third is duplexes, converted homes and small apartment buildings; another 15.63% is large apartment complexes. So a citywide median blends products that do not compete with each other. Published figures run $490,450 to $553,705, while the neighbourhood bands run from the Linden Airport area at $385,000–$510,000 to the Wood Avenue downtown corridor at $510,000–$640,000. A $255,000 spread inside one city. Buy by neighbourhood and by product type. The citywide number will mislead you in either direction.
Figures below are point-in-time, from the sources named, measuring different things over different periods, and several conflict. None applies to a specific property. Verify comparable sales, property type, flood status, tax bills and school assignment for any address with the City of Linden and your own professionals.
This is the single most important fact about buying or selling in Linden, and almost no guide states it.
45.17% — single-family detached, the single most common type
33.54% — duplexes, homes converted to apartments, or small apartment buildings
15.63% — large apartment complexes or high-rise apartments
5.12% — row houses and other attached homes
Most prevalent overall: three- and four-bedroom dwellings, chiefly in the detached stock
A median is only meaningful when the things inside it compete with each other. A detached three-bedroom, a two-family converted house and a unit in a high-rise complex do not compete — they attract different buyers, trade on different arithmetic, and move at different speeds. Blend them and you get a number that describes no actual decision anyone is making.
Compare Colonia, across the Woodbridge line: roughly 93% single-family detached. A citywide median there means something, because almost everything in it is the same kind of thing. Linden is the opposite case — and it is why four published figures for this city can all be defensible and none of them useful for pricing your specific house. Our Colonia guide works the same principle from the other end.
Here are the four citywide figures, for completeness rather than for use. A value index at $553,705, up 1.5%; a median house value of $547,226; an April 2026 median sale of $549,000; and a median home price reported at $490,450. A $63,255 span — narrower than several nearby markets, and still wide enough to matter on an offer.
And for a multi-family buyer, that 33.54% is not a caveat — it is the opportunity. A city where a third of the housing is two-family and converted stock is a genuine investor market rather than a sideline, and it is priced and financed differently from the detached market sitting on the same streets. Get closed sales of multi-family specifically. A single-family median will mislead you badly in that segment.
Linden divides into distinct areas with genuinely different price ranges, and reported bands make the point better than any average could.
The downtown, and the top of the market. Access to amenities commands the premium — in Linden you pay more to be central, not to be on the quiet edge.
Second tier, with the park proximity carrying the premium. Listings here describe capes and ranches on corner lots with mature greenery.
Described as quaint homes on tree-lined streets. This is the coastal edge, on the Arthur Kill, with housing largely built between 1940 and 1969 and a distinctly maritime and shipping character to the setting.
The more affordable middle, described as offering accessibility and amenities at a lower entry point.
The floor of the market, further from the centre. Yes, Linden has its own airport — a general aviation field, and a genuine locational factor worth investigating in person rather than reading about.
Notice how much they overlap. A house at the top of the Airport band ($510,000) costs the same as one at the bottom of the Wood Avenue band. So area alone does not set price here — condition, product type and street do, and a well-presented house in a cheaper area beats a tired one in an expensive one.
And treat these bands as orientation rather than valuation. They come from a single 2026 market report, they are ranges rather than medians, and separate neighbourhood-level figures for the Tremley area disagree sharply with them in both directions. Use them to know which conversation you are in. Use closed sales to price a house.
Fewer than half the homes in this city are what you're selling. Every citywide median your buyer reads includes the other 55%.
If you own a detached single-family house in Linden, you are in a minority product type in your own city — and the medians circulating are blended with duplexes, converted homes and apartment complexes that do not compete with you. Meanwhile the neighbourhood bands run $255,000 apart and overlap heavily, so neither the citywide number nor the area label prices your house. We comp by type and by street, price into the right band rather than the city average, and bring the New York metro buyer pool that reaches Linden on the Northeast Corridor. Dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey.
April 2026 gives an unusually clean read, and it points two ways at once. 117 homes sold, up from 90 a year earlier — roughly 30% more transactions. But properties took an average 45 days against 27 days the year before — pace slowed by two thirds. The median sale was $549,000.
More inventory is reaching the market and it is being absorbed — but buyers now have enough choice to take their time. That is a normalising market rather than a weakening one: volume would fall if demand were leaving. It is not falling; it is rising.
For a seller the practical consequence is specific. A 27-day market forgives an aggressive asking price, because scarcity does the work. A 45-day market does not. Price it correctly on day one — in a market with more choice, the listing that sits is the listing that gets negotiated hardest. And in a city where fewer than half the homes are detached, "priced correctly" means against your own product type, not the city.
Two source problems worth recording, because both recur across this library. The platform publishing those April figures also attributes Linden to a "Union County R-1 School District" — that is a data artefact rather than a real district name, and we have caught the identical construction applied to Carteret in Middlesex County. Its transaction data is cited above; its institutional data is not used.
And a seventh geography failure. A major listing platform gives Linden's "popular neighborhoods" as Rahway Transit Village, Elmora, Downtown Rahway, Perth Amboy Junction — and Staten Island. Staten Island is a New York City borough across a state line and a body of water. This is the seventh such failure recorded in this library, and the third involving Staten Island specifically. The underlying discipline is in our buyer's guide: treat price data as data and platform geography as decoration.
Linden sits on the same water as two markets we have covered in depth, and the comparison is genuinely useful.
Sewaren — mid-$400,000s · a section of Woodbridge Township · no station · marina and a rebuilt waterfront
Linden — roughly $549,000 median sale · its own city government · Northeast Corridor station
Carteret — $569,450 to $595,000 · its own borough government · no station · a $47.5M ferry terminal under construction
Carteret currently trades above Linden while Linden has the train. Carteret's premium is being paid for a ferry terminal that is contracted, under construction, and has no operator signed, with completion put at 2027 or 2028. Linden's Northeast Corridor service exists today.
That is not an argument against Carteret — it is building a marina district and a waterfront, and the ferry may well deliver. But if your priority is a rail commute you can use this year, Linden supplies it at a lower number, and a buyer comparing the two should know they are choosing between infrastructure that runs and infrastructure that is being built.
And the corridor diligence applies here as it does across that water. This is a working industrial shoreline — Tremley Point is described as having a distinctly maritime and shipping character, and the Arthur Kill has carried heavy industry for a century. Get the flood determination, get an insurance quote in your own name, put environmental questions to your attorney, and ask where the truck routes run relative to the street. You evaluate the address, not the city.
For a buyer crossing from New York, Linden is one of the closer landings — Newark and Manhattan both within easy reach, a historic downtown on Wood Avenue, and a Northeast Corridor station. The process differences are the ones that catch people: New Jersey's three-business-day attorney review, the property tax step, and the seller-paid Graduated Percent Fee. Our Staten Island to New Jersey guide covers all three.
Before you accept any Linden comp, ask whether it was a one-family or a two-family house — because in this city that question changes the answer more than the street does. A third of Linden's housing stock is duplexes, converted homes and small apartment buildings, and those sell on rental income and financing terms rather than on kitchens and yards. A two-family with tenants in place and a one-family on the same block are not comparable sales no matter how close they sit, and a comp set assembled from a search box will happily mix them. If you are buying a house, exclude the multi-family. If you are buying multi-family, exclude the houses and get the rent roll. One question, before any number means anything — and in a city that is 45% detached, it is the question most likely to be skipped.
"Here's what nobody tells you about Linden. Forty-five percent of the housing is detached single-family. That's it. A third is duplexes and converted homes and small apartment buildings, another sixteen percent is big complexes. So when somebody quotes you a Linden median — five-forty-nine, five-fifty-three, whatever — they're blending products that don't compete with each other. Colonia's ninety-three percent detached, and there a citywide number means something. Here it means almost nothing. And look at the bands: Wood Avenue downtown is five-ten to six-forty, the airport end is three-eighty-five to five-ten. Two hundred and fifty-five thousand apart inside one city, and they overlap. So the first question on any comp isn't the street. It's whether it's a one-family or a two-family."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
A city where more than half the housing is attached or multi-family needs a broker who prices both sides of that line: I'm Anthony Licciardello, Broker of The Prodigy Team, dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey, a former Director of Community Affairs in the Bloomberg Administration, and a leading broker for cross-border New York–New Jersey transactions.
Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
We comp one-family against one-family — and never let a citywide blend price your house.
What kind of housing is in Linden, NJ?
Less detached than most buyers assume. Of roughly 15,463 housing units, 45.17% are single-family detached, 33.54% are duplexes, homes converted to apartments or small apartment buildings, 15.63% are large apartment complexes or high-rises, and 5.12% are row houses and other attached homes. Three- and four-bedroom dwellings are most prevalent, chiefly in the detached stock. That composition is why a citywide median blends products that do not compete with each other — compare Colonia across the Woodbridge line at roughly 93% detached.
Which Linden neighbourhoods cost the most?
Reported 2026 bands put the Wood Avenue downtown corridor highest at $510,000–$640,000, then Sunnyside near the park at $485,000–$615,000, Tremley Point at $450,000–$575,000, East Linden / St. George Avenue at $410,000–$540,000, and the Linden Airport area southwest at $385,000–$510,000. A $255,000 spread — but note how heavily they overlap: the top of the Airport band equals the bottom of Wood Avenue. Area alone does not set price here; condition, product type and street do. Treat the bands as orientation and use closed sales to value a house.
Is the Linden market slowing down?
Normalising rather than weakening. In April 2026, 117 homes sold against 90 a year earlier — roughly 30% more transactions — at a median of $549,000, but taking an average 45 days against 27 days the year before. Volume would fall if demand were leaving; it is rising. More inventory is reaching the market and being absorbed, with buyers now having enough choice to take their time. For a seller that means a 27-day market forgave an aggressive price and a 45-day market does not.
How does Linden compare to Carteret and Sewaren?
All three sit on the Arthur Kill. Sewaren is a section of Woodbridge Township in the mid-$400,000s with a marina and no station. Linden is its own city at roughly $549,000 with a Northeast Corridor station. Carteret is its own borough at $569,450–$595,000 with no station and a $47.5 million ferry terminal under construction. Carteret currently trades above Linden while Linden has the train that runs today — Carteret's premium is being paid for a ferry with no operator yet signed and completion put at 2027 or 2028.
What the Seller's Certificate Costs — County by County
Selling a Home in Linden — The Certificate and the Fee Trap
Linden Downtown — 334 Units in One Building
The Linden Commute — Two Lines, and the State Bought the Lot
The Arthur Kill Ladder — Three Markets, Eight Miles
Moving to Carteret — The Complete Guide
Carteret Housing Market — 37 Sales or 69, 72 Days or 27
Sewaren — Rebuilding the Cheapest Waterfront
Rahway — The Complete Buying and Selling Guide
Union County by Price — What Every Town Actually Costs
Staten Island to New Jersey — The Three Questions and Two Rules
Figures as of publication, from the sources noted, measuring different quantities over different periods, and subject to change. Housing composition and population per NeighborhoodScout's Linden real estate profile: a population of 45,393 with 15,463 total housing units and a median house value of $547,226; single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type at 45.17% of the city's housing units, with duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings at 33.54%, large apartment complexes or high-rise apartments at 15.63%, and a few row houses and other attached homes at 5.12%; the most prevalent building size and type are three- and four-bedroom dwellings, chiefly found in single-family detached homes. Citywide value figures: per Zillow, the average home value in Linden is $553,705, up 1.5% over the past year — a modelled index across the whole housing stock, not a transaction price, and not comparable to sale medians; per Movoto, homes sold for a median price of $549,000 in April 2026, with properties selling after an average 45 days on market compared with 27 days a year earlier, and 117 homes sold in April 2026 up from 90 a year earlier; a separate relocation guide reports a median home price of $490,450 alongside a cost of living index of 129.5. Neighbourhood price bands per a 2026 Linden market report published by a competing brokerage: Tremley Point $450,000–$575,000; Sunnyside (near park) $485,000–$615,000; Wood Ave corridor (downtown) $510,000–$640,000; East Linden / St. George Ave area $410,000–$540,000; Linden Airport area (southwest) $385,000–$510,000. These are reported ranges rather than medians, from a single source, and are cited for orientation only. Neighbourhood-level figures from NeighborhoodScout disagree materially with those bands in both directions — reporting a Tremley/Tremley Point median of $373,240 with an 11.2% vacancy rate, and a Grasselli/Tremley median of $652,835 with a 5.2% vacancy rate, both described as coastal neighbourhoods with residences largely built between 1940 and 1969, and the Tremley area characterised as having a nautical, seaside and shipping feel; those figures carry differing publication dates and are reported here as conflicting evidence rather than reconciled. Sources discarded for specific content: the platform publishing the April 2026 transaction figures also attributes Linden to a "Union County R-1 School District," which is a data artefact rather than a real district name — we have recorded the identical construction applied to Carteret as a "Middlesex County R-1 School District" — and publishes GreatSchools numerical ratings; its transaction data is cited above, its institutional data and school ratings are not used. Separately, a major listing platform gives Linden's "popular neighborhoods" as Rahway Transit Village, Elmora, Staten Island, Downtown Rahway and Perth Amboy Junction; Staten Island is a borough of New York City across a state line and a body of water, and this is the seventh geography failure recorded in this library and the third involving Staten Island. No reliance is placed on that platform's neighbourhood groupings. Comparison figures for Sewaren and Carteret are set out with their sources in our separate guides to those markets. School performance ratings, household income, crime statistics, age, household composition and demographic data available from the sources consulted have been deliberately excluded, as we exclude such material for every community we cover; school attendance assignments are address-specific and must be confirmed with the district's registration office. No representation is made regarding environmental conditions, remediation status or contamination history of any parcel on this corridor; buyers should direct environmental questions to their own attorney and appropriate professionals, and obtain flood determinations, elevation certificates and independent insurance quotations for any specific address. Medians, averages, value indexes and reported ranges are not appraisals and describe populations of transactions or modelled values rather than any individual property. Comparable sales, property type, tax bills, assessments and condition must be verified for any specific property. This is general information and market commentary, not legal, environmental, tax or investment advice.
Prodigy Real Estate is an innovative real estate company offering high-end video production, home valuation services, purchasing, and home sales. Serving New York and New Jersey.