Inventory Remains Low in Pennsylvania, Home Sales Remain Steady

The latest statewide housing market report shows that housing inventory continued a downward trend last month. That’s probably no surprise to any of you. The report shows that listings were down about 9% last month to 42,270, compared to 46,475 in October.

As I’ve talked with many of you across the state, you’re seeing that the number of homes on the market is an ongoing challenge. In fact, we saw nearly 24% fewer listings last month compared to November last year.

Like many of you, my market continues to see multiple offers on homes that are well priced. Those homes are moving quickly and often have more than 30 showings. Unfortunately, the hot market we’ve seen over the last year has created unrealistic expectations for some sellers. As always, educating our clients about the market and how we, as Realtors®, can offer our expertise to help them navigate the buying and/or selling process is so important.

Statewide, inventory levels are staying at about three months, which is down 33% over last year. For a balanced market, we’d like to see six months of inventory.

The report shows median prices remaining solid throughout the commonwealth. The median sales price dipped slightly in November to $191,499, compared to $192,583 in October, however; the median price is up 10% over last year.

Statewide, median home sale prices have fallen about 4% from $200,067 in August this year. With mortgage rates remaining low, many new buyers have been able to enter the market.

Existing home sales continued to be steady with 13,813 in November, down 2.2% from October and down 3.6% over last year.

As I look at the difference between last year and this year, it’s important to remember that the market shut down for more than two months in 2020 and we had extra activity later in the year as the market tried to catch up.