Harleysville-Lansdale Real Estate and More

The Montgomery County, PA Market Report for December 2009 shows some positive news.  A long streak of year-over-year falling prices has ended and the year-over-year number of home sales remains in positive territory.

The average price of a home in Montgomery County increased to $310,012 compared to $305,882 for December, 2008; a 1.4% increase. This ends a 24 month streak in which home prices had fallen from the prior year level.

The number of homes sold this past December increased to 513 units versus 494 homes sold in December of the prior year; a 3.8% increase. This marks the 6th consecutive month that the number of homes sold has increased from its prior year level.

A particularly interesting observation from this market report is that December's numbers should give a more normal indication of the market in comparison to November when the original first time buyer tax credit was set to expire.  That deadline caused an unnaturally high amount of sales in November, but also caused the average price to dip significantly for that month due to the generally lower price range of first time buyers.  One might have expected December's number of sales to suffer due to the forced activity the previous month.  However, December's sale increased over last year and the average price jumped by 12.8% from November's level of $274,706.

By the way, the home buyer tax credit has been extended and expanded to include "current" home owners.

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Copyright © 2009, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved. Montgomery County, PA Market Report for December 2009.

The Montgomery County, PA Market Report for November 2009 shows that home prices again declined from the previous year’s level while the number of home sales rose dramatically.

The average price of a home in Montgomery County dropped to $274,706 compared to $295,494 for November, 2008; an 7.0% decrease. This marks the 24th consecutive month in which home prices have fallen from the prior year level.

The number of homes sold this past November increased to 860 units versus 479 homes sold in November of the prior year; a 80% increase. This marks the 5th consecutive month that the number of homes sold has increased from its prior year level.

If anyone had any doubts about the popularity of the $8,000 tax credit that was set to expire this past November, this market report should make it crystal clear.  An 80% increase in the number of units sold at generally lower price levels can only be attributed to one market segment; first-time buyers.  They definitely showed up in force to settle on homes before the anticipated expiration of the tax credit.  By the way, the home buyer tax credit has since been extended and expanded to include "current" home owners. 

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Copyright © 2009, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved. Montgomery County, PA Market Report for November 2009.

The Montgomery County, PA Market Report for October 2009 shows a continuation of recent patterns; home prices again declined from the previous year’s level while the number of home sales rose.  

The average price of a home in Montgomery County dropped to $285,817 compared to $304,327 for October, 2008; an 8.2% decrease.  This marks the 23rd consecutive month in which home prices have fallen from the prior year level.

The number of homes sold this past October increased to 731 units versus 604 homes sold in October of the prior year; a 21% increase.  This marks the 4th consecutive month that the number of homes sold has increased from its prior year level.

How is it possible that home sales are increasing, but home prices continue to fall?  In a very general sense, the overall decrease in housing prices has caused some buyers to step into the market and snap up good deals.  Specifically and probably to a larger extent, the first-time buyer tax credit has resulted in an abnormally high number of sales at the lower price ranges of the market.  Also, housing inventory remains relatively high at approximately 8.5 months (even with October’s impressive sales rate).  Housing Inventory is the number of months it would take to sell all of the currently listed homes at the current seasonally adjusted monthly sales rate.  Until we start to consistently see housing inventory down near 6 months of supply, look for continued (but hopefully moderate) pressure on home prices.

To get a sense of the broader national housing market (which will certainly have some effect on our local housing market), check out my blog from this past weekend:  Market Outlook: The Calm Before the Storm.

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Copyright © 2009, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved. Montgomery County, PA Market Report for October 2009.

Montgomery County PA Home Prices and Home Sales through September 2009. The streak of declining prices continues, but shows encouraging signs of slowing.  Montgomery County homes prices have fallen for 22 consecutive months as of the end of September.  The average price of a home fell to $300,715 this past September versus an average of $306,100 in September, 2008; just a 1.8% decrease.  If you’re looking for positive signs in the real estate market, you have to see this as a potential sign of a bottoming in home prices.

On another positive and related note, the number of home sales rose sharply in September.  The number of residential home sales in Montgomery County increased to 702 units this past September from 637 units last September; better than a 10% increase.

Many factors can play into the results for a given month.  For example, the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is currently set expire at the end of November.  This looming deadline has certainly had (and will have) an impact on the number of sales in the months leading up to that deadline.  If Congress extends and/or expands this tax credit (which they are currently debating), we would probably see a continuation of more positive numbers in the housing markets.  If the tax credit simply expires, we could see some reversal of the recent positive indications.  The general state of the economy also has an enormous impact on the real estate markets (and vice versa).  While we’ve seen some signs of improvement in the overall economy, it seems quite fragile and any deterioration there would weigh negatively on our real estate market.  So, we forge ahead and look for a trend to become clearer as the months go by.  I’ll continue to monitor the real estate market in Montgomery County and post these market reports on a monthly basis.

If you’re a home buyer, there are a few things for sure.  From your point of reference, home prices have slid back pretty nicely from an all time high average of approximately $368,000 in 2007.  If you combine the current price discount with the very attractive interest rates available right now (near 5.0% for 30-year fixed and near 4.0% for 5-year ARM’s), you have some pretty compelling reasons to consider a purchase.  You also have to realize that nobody will truly be able to tell when the market has hit a bottom until they can take a look several months back and say, “Oh, that was it.”

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 to buy or sell a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Copyright © 2009, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved. Montgomery County PA Home Prices and Home Sale - September 2009.

August marked the 21st consecutive month that home prices have fallen from their previous year levels in Montgomery County, PA. For this past August, the average price of a home was 13% below the same month in 2008. But before you make any hasty, negative judgments about our market, take a look at the charts below and note the following:

• From the latter part of 2005 through early 2008, our housing prices could be characterized as relatively flat and stable. It wasn’t until late 2008 that we started to see some more significant decreases in our average selling prices. And even during this period, our monthly year-over-year price declines were pretty much confined to a 5% to 15% range.

• We actually saw a typical, seasonal price increase over the 2009 spring/summer selling season. The average price increased from a low of about $271,000 in February to a high of $322,000 in June; nearly a 19% increase.

• Probably the most encouraging data involves the number of homes sold. This past July, we actually saw an increase (1.6%) in the year-over-year number of homes sold. That marked an end to a streak of 38 consecutive months in which the year of year number fell. It was also followed up by a 0.5% increase in August’s year-over-year number. Only time will tell if this is a turning point, but it’s definitely a positive sign.

• Lastly, and more just a point of interest, the charts clearly show some interesting and repetitive seasonal trends. Within the real estate industry, we’re well aware of these trends and many consumers are now savvy to them as well. Seeing the data, however, really takes the mystery out of the “selling/buying seasons”.

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 to buy or sell a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Copyright © 2009, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved. Montgomery County PA Home Prices and Home Sales.