BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Lehigh Valley house prices saw their first decrease in price since 2019, according to the latest report from the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors.
The report says the median sales price dipped 3.3% from January 2023 to January 2024 — to $290,000.
But that’s not a comment on an abundance of supply.
Inventory also slipped 27% over the same period, with only 485 properties up for sale in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
“Homebuyers are beginning to come out of the woodwork, and the National Association of Realtors is forecasting a 13-percent increase in existing-home sales this year compared to 2023.”Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors Chief Executive Officer Justin Porembo
“Real estate in January did not come in with a bang, but mortgage rates have dropped significantly from their peak last fall,” GLVR Chief Executive Officer Justin Porembo said in a release.
“Homebuyers are beginning to come out of the woodwork, and the National Association of Realtors is forecasting a 13-percent increase in existing-home sales this year compared to 2023.”
New listings also decreased 3.6%, to just 477 properties, according to the report.
However, pending sales stayed on par with last year, going down by just one listing from 427 in January 2023 to 426 in January 2024, the report says.
Properties still are flying out of the inventory, with homes selling eight days faster than this time last year and sellers getting 100.2% of the listing price, the report says.
One of the biggest changes was months supply of inventory, a statistic that “refers to the number of months it would take for the current inventory of homes on the market to sell given the current sales pace,” according to the National Association of Realtors.
That's down 18.2%, to just 0.9 of a month.
