BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania – There is good news and bad news when it comes to the Lehigh Valley real estate market.
The inventory ratio between buyers and sellers is not yet balanced, Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors said this week.
However, the July data from the GLVR showed positive increases in key indicators in residential construction, a press release said.
This included a 9.7% increase in closed sales to 600 listings and a 19.3% increase in inventory to 802 units for Lehigh and Northampton counties.
However, the median sales price increased 6.9% to $348,500.
Other notable statistics were:
- The number of new arrivals increased by 22.3% to 855
- Pending sales increased by 11.2% to 627
- Inventory increased by 25% to 1.5 months
- The percentage of the list price received decreased by 0.2%, but was still at 102%
- Houses were sold in an average of 18 days, an increase of three days
“While the national real estate market has experienced a significant downturn due to pandemic-related mortgage rates and rising sales prices, deterring many potential buyers, the Lehigh Valley continues to show remarkable resilience,” Justin Porembo, CEO of GLVR, said in the press release.
“While the national real estate market has experienced a significant downturn due to pandemic-related mortgage rates and rising sales prices, preventing many potential buyers from qualifying, the Lehigh Valley continues to show remarkable resilience.”
Justin Porembo, Greater Lehigh Valley Real Estate Agent
In Carbon County, the median sales price fell to $244,000, according to GLVR. The number of closed sales fell to 44, the number of pending sales rose to 76, the number of new listings rose to 99 and inventory grew to 209 units.
Year-on-year, market duration increased to 36 days compared to 26 days in July of the previous year.
Mortgage interest rates have fallen
“Mortgage rates have reached their lowest weekly level since May 2023 – 6.47% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage,” said GLVR President Lori Campbell.
“This is the largest one-week drop in mortgage rates we’ve seen in nine months. For those who have been sitting idly waiting for rates to fall, now is the time to act.”
And that’s what they did.
Mortgage refinancing applications rose this week to levels not seen since spring 2022, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In addition, the number of Americans applying for a mortgage reached its highest level since January 2023.
“Rates on 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the second week in a row, which combined with the previous week’s rate movements led to another week of strong application activity,” said Joel Kan, MBA vice president and deputy chief economist.
Lehigh Valley cools down
On Friday, Realtor.com released its latest report on the hottest real estate markets across the country (as of July 2024).
And while the report found that some of the hottest markets were in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, the Lehigh Valley was not among them.
The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metro ranked 49th out of 300 subways nationwide in July, falling 25 spots.
The report classified the region as a “slightly hot market, cooling compared to last month and compared to last year.”
The median time on market was 34 days, with inventories moving 13 percent slower than last year but 15.5 days faster than the U.S. overall, the report said.
According to the report, properties in this area are also viewed on average 1.7 times more often than the U.S. average.
