Anthony Licciardello | August 28, 2026
Seaside Park, NJ
Seaside Park shares the southern end of the barrier peninsula with one of the most famous boardwalks in America — and has almost nothing to do with it. Its own boardwalk is lined with beachgrass. Island Beach State Park's ten miles of protected shoreline begin at its southern border. And roughly two-thirds of its housing sits empty for most of the year, which is the single most important fact about buying here.
Seaside Park sits at the southern end of the Barnegat Peninsula between Seaside Heights and Island Beach State Park — and it is the opposite of its neighbour. Its boardwalk is a beachgrass-lined promenade with houses set back from the dunes, not an amusement pier. Six published prices span $590,000 to $1.49 million depending on what is measured. And roughly 64% of the housing stock is recorded as vacant — the highest seasonal share we have documented in Ocean County. That number is not a warning. It is a description of the product. Buy here understanding you are buying into a summer town, or do not buy here.
Seaside Park anchors the southern end of the barrier island covered north to south in our Bay Head, Mantoloking, Normandy Beach, Chadwick Beach and Ortley Beach guides. Where sources conflict — and on prices here they conflict widely — we show the spread rather than choose.
Two boroughs share a name and almost nothing else. Seaside Heights, immediately north, is one of the most recognised boardwalk towns in America — amusement piers, arcades, a summer nightlife economy. Seaside Park is not that, and buyers who conflate the two are shopping the wrong town. Its own boardwalk is described as lined with beachgrass, with houses set back from the dunes — a natural promenade rather than a commercial strip.
That is a distinction we have now documented three times on this coast, and it is worth naming as a category: Ocean Gate has a non-commercial public boardwalk fronting its houses; Bay Head has no boardwalk at all; and Seaside Park has a beachgrass promenade next door to one of the busiest boardwalks in the country. On the Jersey Shore, "boardwalk" describes at least three completely different products. Ask which one before you assume.
The southern border is the borough's other defining asset. Seaside Park sits at the northern edge of Island Beach State Park — roughly ten miles of protected beach and wildlife habitat, popular for crabbing, fishing and surf access, with no development on it and none coming. That is a permanent open-space boundary on one side of a barrier-island town, and it is the structural reason Seaside Park cannot become denser to the south. Few shore addresses anywhere have a state park as a neighbour.
What the borough runs on its own is scaled to a small town rather than a resort: the Fifth Avenue Bay Pier and the 13th Avenue Pier for fishing, the Seaside Park Yacht Club with sailing instruction, and Moe Levine Field and Park for recreation, alongside a Summer Concert Series and a Labor Day Weekend Art Show. Access to the mainland runs via Route 37 — the same crossing described in our commute guide, and a genuine summer bottleneck worth experiencing before you buy.
Roughly 23% of Seaside Park's housing is recorded as owner-occupied, 13% as rented, and about 64% as vacant. That is not a distressed market — it is the statistical signature of a seasonal resort town, where "vacant" means a second home standing empty on the day the count was taken. For comparison, Island Heights runs about one in six vacant and Bay Head about one in six. Seaside Park runs closer to two in three.
It is the single most consequential number on this page, and it changes what you should do in five specific ways.
Visit in February as well as July. You will see two entirely different towns, and only one of them is the one you will own in the off-season.
Inspect for seasonal occupancy. A house closed up for eight months a year ages differently — plumbing, heating, humidity and pest exposure all deserve a specialist eye rather than a routine walkthrough.
Ask what runs year-round. Which restaurants, which services, which municipal functions. In a town where most houses are empty in winter, the answer is shorter than a summer visit suggests.
Time a listing to the season. A market whose buyers are shopping for a summer house has a rhythm, and listing against it costs weeks.
Underwrite rental income conservatively, and verify it. Seasonal rental is normal here — confirm what the borough permits, what registration applies, and what a specific property has actually achieved rather than what it is projected to.
And the honest framing for a buyer: the vacancy rate is not a red flag, it is a description of the product. Seaside Park is a summer town that has never pretended otherwise, and the quiet nine months are part of what people are buying — including the reason its beaches feel the way they do. If you want a year-round shore community with a train and a village centre, Bay Head is the address further north. If you want a beach town that empties out, this is one of the best of them.
An average rather than a median, from an MLS-fed source. Averages are more exposed to composition than medians, and in a market with a large condo segment that matters.
Across a range running $280,000 to $1,599,999. Condos are a large share of this market and they are a different product from the single-family stock — never blend the two when comping.
A value estimate across the housing stock rather than a transactional figure.
From regional brokerage commentary, alongside roughly 33 homes listed including 12 condos.
With an average sale price of $1,100,500 — the gap between those two being the upper tier pulling the mean, the same signature we document across this island.
At approximately $884 per square foot with a median 26 days on market across roughly 24 listings. Asking, not clearing — and the velocity figure is the most encouraging number on this page.
Read the shape. Transactional figures cluster roughly $590,000 to $950,000 depending on whether you take an average or a median and which month. Asking sits far higher near $1.49 million, because what is listed at any moment skews toward the top of the market. Neither end is wrong; they describe different populations of houses. One separate source characterises typical Seaside Park homes as three-bedroom, two-bath properties of 1,000 to 1,600 square feet in a range from the mid-$300s to upper-$700s — which reads as a description of the conventional stock rather than the whole market, and it brackets the lower cluster sensibly.
The condo question is the one that most distorts a Seaside Park comp set. With a condo median near $642,000 against single-family figures well above it, and condos ranging from $280,000 to over $1.5 million, a borough-wide median blends two genuinely different markets. If you are pricing a single-family house here, exclude condos from the comp set entirely — and if you are buying a condo, do the reverse.
And the velocity is genuinely good. A 26-day median time on market puts Seaside Park among the faster-clearing communities on this island — well ahead of Island Heights at 65 days and Bay Head's 88-day listing figure. Correctly priced property moves here.
Six published prices describe your market, from $590,000 to $1.49 million — and a borough median blends your house with the condo market.
Automated estimates here average single-family houses and condominiums together, which understates one and overstates the other. Get a valuation comped against matched product and matched position, and a listing timed to a market whose buyers are shopping for a summer house. Backed by the New York metro buyer pool we bring to every listing.
The architectural range here is unusually wide for a small borough, running from turn-of-the-century Shingle, Craftsman and Queen Anne houses through to modern coastal construction with multi-story balconies. Typical properties are described as three-bedroom, two-bath homes of 1,000 to 1,600 square feet, with single-family houses, condominiums and townhomes all present. That mix is why comping matters so much here — a 1910 Queen Anne and a 2020 three-story with balconies are not the same asset, and a borough median treats them as though they were.
On the older stock specifically: a turn-of-the-century house on a barrier island has stood through more than a century of salt, and — in a town where most houses are seasonally occupied — potentially through decades of being closed up for the winter. Use an inspector who works on historic coastal property, and pay particular attention to systems that suffer from disuse rather than use.
Published descriptions indicate a Seaside Park Borough school district operating Seaside Park Elementary School, with older students attending Central Regional High School — the same regional district that serves Ocean Gate, as covered in our Ocean Gate guide.
One source in our research also named a middle school that appears to belong to an entirely different New Jersey municipality, which we are not reproducing. That is the fourth time in this coverage we have found a school or place reference pointing at the wrong town. Confirm the full K-12 arrangement and the assignment for any specific address directly with the districts — not from a listing, a summary, or this article.
And the coastal file, which is not optional anywhere on this island. Flood zone determination and elevation certificate on the specific structure, and a live insurance quote in your own name rather than the seller's legacy premium. This peninsula took direct damage in 2012, and the annual gap between elevated post-storm construction and older non-elevated stock runs to thousands of dollars — the framework is in our flood guide. On bay-side property, add bulkhead condition, dock rights and New Jersey tidelands status.
Finally, if rental income is part of your thesis — and in a town that is two-thirds seasonal it often is — confirm the borough's current position on short-term rental before you contract, including any registration or licensing requirement. Ask the Borough Clerk directly. On this coast we have found the answer varies materially from town to town, and an assumption is an expensive way to discover it.
Before you look at a single house, walk from the Seaside Heights boardwalk south into Seaside Park on a July evening. It takes fifteen minutes and it will tell you more than any listing description. You will feel the exact point where the amusement economy stops and the beachgrass starts — and where a house sits relative to that line is a real pricing variable that appears in no statistic. Some buyers want to be walkable to the boardwalk. Others are paying specifically to be far from it. Knowing which one you are, before you start touring, will save you a month.
"Sixty-four percent vacant is the number people get wrong about Seaside Park. It reads like a warning and it isn't one — it just means two houses in three are somebody's summer place, which is exactly what this town is. What I'd tell a buyer is go in February. See the version of it you'll own for nine months a year, then decide. And when you're comping, throw the condos out. There's a condo market here running from two-eighty to over a million and a half, and a single-family market above it, and every borough-wide median you'll be shown mashes them together. That's how people end up mispricing a house on this island."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
Seasonal shore markets — where the comp set has to be built by hand and the condo market has to be kept separate — are exactly the work I do: 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 keep condos out of the single-family comp set, price on position relative to the boardwalk line, and time listings to a seasonal market.
How much do homes cost in Seaside Park, NJ?
Published figures span roughly $590,000 to $1.49 million because each measures something different. Transactional figures cluster between about $590,000 and $950,000 — a $590,000 average sale price, a $662,500 median value, a roughly $804,900 estimated median, and a $950,000 median home price for July 2026 with an average sale of $1,100,500. A May 2026 list median sits at $1.49 million at about $884 per square foot with 26 median days on market. Condos are a separate market with a median near $642,000 across a $280,000 to $1,599,999 range — keep them out of a single-family comp set.
Does Seaside Park have a boardwalk like Seaside Heights?
No — and the distinction is the defining fact about the town. Seaside Heights, immediately north, is one of the most recognised amusement boardwalks in America. Seaside Park's boardwalk is described as lined with beachgrass, with houses set back from the dunes — a natural promenade rather than a commercial strip. Its southern border is Island Beach State Park, roughly ten miles of protected beach and wildlife habitat. Buyers conflating the two boroughs are shopping the wrong town.
Is Seaside Park a year-round community?
Only partly. Roughly 23% of housing is recorded as owner-occupied, 13% rented and about 64% vacant — the signature of a seasonal resort town, where vacant means a second home standing empty on the count date. That is the highest seasonal share we have documented in Ocean County. Practically: visit in February as well as July, inspect for seasonal occupancy, ask what stays open year-round, and underwrite any rental income conservatively after confirming the borough's rules.
What schools serve Seaside Park?
Published descriptions indicate a Seaside Park Borough school district operating Seaside Park Elementary School, with older students attending Central Regional High School — the same regional district serving Ocean Gate. One source in our research named a middle school that appears to belong to a different New Jersey municipality entirely, which we have not reproduced. Confirm the full K-12 arrangement and the assignment for any specific address directly with the districts rather than relying on a listing or summary.
Moving to Ortley Beach — The Complete Guide
Chadwick Beach — Five Names, One Place
Normandy Beach — The Place Name That Spans a Municipal Line
Mantoloking — Four Published Prices for One Small Borough
Bay Head — The Town That Built Its Seawall in 1882
Toms River Homes for Sale — Browse Current Listings
Details as of publication for Seaside Park Borough, Ocean County, NJ, from the sources noted. Place: a borough on the Barnegat Peninsula at the northern edge of Island Beach State Park, with Seaside Heights to the north; public beaches described as having a natural feel with houses set back from the dunes and a boardwalk lined with beachgrass; Island Beach State Park described as featuring ten miles of protected beaches and wildlife and popular for crabbing, fishing and shoreline use; recreation including fishing at the Fifth Avenue Bay Pier and the 13th Avenue Pier, sailing lessons at the Seaside Park Yacht Club, and sports at Moe Levine Field and Park; community events including a Summer Concert Series and a Labor Day Weekend Art Show; and mainland access via Route 37 — per Homes.com community descriptions, Diane Turton area information and New Jersey Real Estate Network. Housing character: homes described as ranging from turn-of-the-century Shingle, Craftsman and Queen Anne styles to modern coastal architecture with multi-story balconies; most homes described as three-bedroom, two-bath with 1,000 to 1,600 square feet of living space; single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes all present. Tenure: approximately 23% of Seaside Park homes owner-occupied, approximately 13% rented and approximately 64% vacant, per MLS-fed listing platforms — a figure reflecting seasonal second-home occupancy rather than distress. Market figures, each measuring a different quantity: an average price of homes sold of $590,000 and a median home value of $662,500 (BrightMLS-fed platforms); an estimated median home price of approximately $804,900 with approximately 33 homes listed including 12 condominiums, per regional brokerage commentary; a median home price of $950,000 with an average sale price of $1,100,500 as of July 2026, and a condominium median of $642,000 across 6 condominium listings ranging from $280,000 to $1,599,999, with condominiums averaging 51 days listed (Homes.com); and a median list price of $1.49 million at approximately $884 per square foot with a median 26 days on market across approximately 24 listings in May 2026, reported as a 38% decrease in days on market from May 2025 (Movoto). A separate source characterises average Seaside Park home prices as ranging from the mid-$300s to the upper $700s. These figures span a wide range and are not interchangeable; transactional averages, medians, value estimates and list medians measure different populations, and the borough's sizeable condominium segment means a borough-wide median blends two distinct markets. Schools: published descriptions indicate a Seaside Park Borough school district operating Seaside Park Elementary School with older students attending Central Regional High School; one source additionally named a middle school appearing to belong to a different New Jersey municipality, which has not been reproduced here — confirm the full arrangement and any specific address's assignment directly with the relevant districts. Age-based characterizations of residents, and income-to-afford calculations appearing in third-party market commentary, have been deliberately excluded, as we exclude such material for every community we cover. All figures are point-in-time and subject to change; medians, averages, value estimates and list prices are not appraisals. Flood zone status, elevation, insurance cost, bulkhead condition, dock rights, tidelands status, assessments, tax bills, short-term rental regulations and school assignments must be verified for any specific property. This is general information and market commentary, not legal, insurance, tax, or investment advice — verify all current details with the Borough of Seaside Park, FEMA, your insurer, the relevant districts and your own professionals before buying or selling.
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.
