Jennifer Lincoln had been renting on the Upper East Side and commuting to midtown for her job at Coach, the designer leather goods company, where she has worked for almost seven years. Last year, she began house hunting. "Buying a place is a good investment, she said. It was time for me to buy. I had saved a little bit of money. She looked in New York City and Long Island City. She considered Hoboken and elsewhere along New Jerseys Gold Coast. Ultimately, her hunt brought her to Edgewater and The Peninsula at City Place, a complex of 201 apartments converted into luxury condominiums by the New York based developer Savanna Partners, known for its luxury developments in Manhattan. Homes range from 837 to 1,698 square feet, and prices range from the low $400,000 to almost $1.3 million. The complex is 35 percent sold. The condos are situated above a village of such premium retail outlets as Ann Taylor Loft and Shaper Image. There's fine dining, a gym and spa next door and a multiplex cinema. Lincoln, a single woman in her 30s, moved into her south facing one-bedroom, one bath unit in April. As a single woman, she represents one of the two emerging home buyer categories, according to real estate analyst Jeffrey Otteau. Immigrants make up the other such category. Single women account for 22 percent of home sales in New Jersey, compared with 9 percent for single men. Forty percent of condominium buyers are single women. According to Otteau, single women are particularly drawn to condominiums because the cluster type housing offers the security and comfort of having other people nearby, and owners don't have to deal with exterior maintenance. Both those points were important to Lincoln. "The Peninsula is beautiful, modern and all brand-new, so it's easy to maintain. It's good first home," she said. "Having the stores there is nice. I can easily run errands and easily pick up things. And, with the 24-hour concierge, I felt I could be taken care of if I need directions or need somebody to receive packages." She feels safe in the building and in the area. And the central location makes it easy for family and friends to stop by. The commute to work is easier than when she lived on the Upper East Side. "I take the ferry every day, and The Peninsula offers a shuttle to the ferry," she said. "It's a predictable commute, a stress free commute. It's a little bit more expensive, but it's worth it to have a stress-free commute." Edgewater has had a Cinderella makeover since the mid-1980s, when its waterfront was a sad scene of abandoned factories and warehouses. Now River Road is a long procession of high-end condo buildings, town houses and upscale shopping malls. Nelson Chen, owner of the Chen Agency, which handles a lot of real estate in Edgewater, said that the borough has felt the effects of the declining market, especially in 2006, but that the fall has been cushioned. "In the condo market we are more immune," he said. "We have such diversity of buyers. Twenty years ago, the condo world had one type of buyer: Young people. They would buy a condo, stay in the condo world as little as five or 10 years, and sell the condo when they had a child or were about to have a child. "Now the condo buyers are young people, old people, empty nesters, relocating executives. Now couples with children are trading up in condo world, getting a town house. They are unwilling to give up proximity to the city to move to the suburbs. They won't give up their commute." Chen calls this group of Gold Coast condo residents the 'baby brigade.' "Even the stay-at-home moms are getting very accustomed to the urban atmosphere," he said. " They can walk to everything: The grocery store, Starbucks, Panera. Empty-nesters drive the upper end of Edgewater's market. "They'll spend bucks-over a million dollars-for a great view." Chen said. Peninsula condo owner Lincoln loves the aesthetics and the economics of her new home. "It's beautiful, it's on the waterfront," she said. "Taxes are more reasonable. I don't even mind [Bergen County's] blue laws."