Record low housing inventory and the economy is great? Record breaking low unemployment. A few head line layoffs with mostly over seas headcount isn’t going to do much. A quick Zillow search shows many many houses in cnj well under 450k for sale. Might just need to adjust your expectations. I’m not saying it’s easy or fun to house hunt right now! You need to talk to a realtor and get real and then with some patience you can make it happen.