Jodi Morgan Katz is hesitant to move away from New York, the city she's called home for 11 years. She loves walking everywhere she needs to go, shopping for groceries without a car, and taking her son to the park without fussing over car seats.

Even so, she and her family—husband David and baby August—will soon relocate from the Upper East Side to Maplewood. They are among hundreds who move from Manhattan, Brooklyn and Hoboken to the area each year.

Perri Feldman, a realtor with the Summit-based Keller Williams, says the sluggish economy hasn’t substantially slowed the trend. At least 80 percent of her clients are from the New York City area. These first-time buyers are looking to put their savings into something solid, hoping that “if they do lose their jobs, they have hopefully created a nest egg with the house.”

A nest egg that has never been so affordable. “To say that now is the time to buy is an understatement. Historically, prices and interest rates have never been this low, and first-time homebuyers want to jump in feet first. The $8,000 credit doesn’t hurt either,” said Feldman, referring to the credit available to first-time home buyers via the Obama stimulus package.

According to Katz, Feldman is correct. “The economy as it relates to housing was what kick-started us in looking to buy a home. We don't have anything to sell, so it was a good time for us to find a better deal.”

Not all local realtors agree that Manhattanites are jumping at opportunities to buy in the suburbs. Judi Langheld of ReMax Village Square in South Orange is observing that her clients are becoming more risk-averse—perhaps due to mounting job insecurity in an economic climate where layoffs and cutbacks are all too common.

“A lot of people that are looking to realize that American dream of owning a home come to look here," she said. "Right now, I don’t think the issue is that they don’t want to [buy]; they are just being more cautious. They are taking more time to think about their personal situations, what is best for their families, what they want down the road and if they can afford it. Some people just don’t know what the next few months will hold.”

While some of her clients have decided to hold off for now, they're still planning to buy in the near future. Most are choosing “to save a little more, to be able to put more on the down payment,” she said.

There's also a contingent of would-be buyers fresh from digesting grim news about the economy who house-hunt with the expectation that they can find a home for a fraction of what they would have paid two years. But Feldman says they've been largely disappointed, and local sellers have resisted dropping their prices by large amounts.

“Along the Midtown train line is the hottest place to be,” she said. “People are low-balling, but sellers aren’t budging.”