Ocean County is in the middle of a building boom, ranking among the top three New Jersey counties for new home construction over the past five years, according to a new Rutgers University study that found the state is producing housing at its fastest pace in decades.

Ocean County added an annual average of 3,923 new homes between 2020 and 2024, trailing only Hudson County’s 5,777 and edging out Bergen County’s 3,648, the Rutgers Regional Report found. The surge has been fueled largely by two distinct forces reshaping the county: the rapid expansion of the Orthodox Jewish community centered in Lakewood, and the continued proliferation of 55-and-over retirement communities across the county’s interior.

Statewide, New Jersey produced nearly 180,000 housing units between 2020 and 2024, its strongest five-year stretch since the 1980s. If the pace holds, the state is on track to finish the decade with roughly 359,300 new homes, about 45 percent more than were built in the 2010s and the highest decade-long total of the 21st century.

In Ocean County, the construction pace reflects demographic pressures unlike anywhere else in the state. Lakewood Township, home to Beth Medrash Govoha, the largest yeshiva outside Israel, has grown more than 45 percent since 2010, reaching roughly 142,000 residents by 2024. Large family sizes, high birth rates, and continued inward migration from Brooklyn and other Orthodox enclaves have created relentless demand for family-sized housing, pushing development outward into Jackson, Toms River, Howell and Manchester.

The county’s other engine is a long-running boom in active-adult communities. Major builders including Lennar and D.R. Horton have continued to roll out 55-and-over developments across Ocean County, drawing retirees from across the Northeast looking for lower taxes and a milder shore climate. Stafford Township’s Stafford Park development was the top municipality in the state for single- and two-family building permits in 2020, and similar projects have continued to come online across Barnegat, Manahawkin and Little Egg Harbor.

The Ocean County pattern stands in sharp contrast to Hudson County, where the construction wave has been driven by high-rise multifamily towers along the Jersey City and Hoboken waterfronts. Statewide, multifamily housing now accounts for more than 62 percent of building permits issued this decade, a significant reversal from earlier eras when single-family homes dominated. Ocean County remains one of the few large counties where single-family construction continues to play a leading role.

The building boom has done little to ease affordability pressures. The median home value in Lakewood reached roughly $476,000 in 2024, with the township ranked among New Jersey’s hottest housing markets. By 2024, no county in the state had a median price for newly built homes below $350,000, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

State officials have made housing supply a priority. Gov. Mikie Sherrill earlier this year signed an executive order aimed at increasing housing production, and lawmakers have debated measures to make it easier to convert office space into residential units.

Whether the current pace can be sustained remains an open question.