State Housing Market Sees Decline in Home Sales

September saw declines across the housing market in Pennsylvania, according to a housing market report prepared for PAR.

I’m sure most of your markets saw a drop in home sales last month. Pennsylvania home sales declined 8% in September to 12,355, compared to August sales of 13,486 and sales are down 16%, compared to the same time last year.

We’re seeing higher interest rates and limited inventory, which are having a cooling effect on the housing market across the commonwealth, like many other areas of the country.

Our monthly report showed the median existing home sales price fell slightly to $206,575 in September, down from $209,794 in August.

Several factors are affecting today’s market. Rising interest rates and inflation in other products have affected what many homebuyers can now afford. They may be looking at homes priced lower than what they were previously considering. Home prices have fallen somewhat in the past two months, but they’re still 4% higher than they were last year.

The number of listings declined 3% in September to 39,533, compared to August.

Continued limited inventory has kept prices up. The number of listings remains down more than 20% compared to last year and we’re holding steady with about three months of inventory on the market.

Overall, we’re seeing listings stay on the market a little longer than we’ve seen over the past year. In my own office just this week, we had seven offers come in on one property. I’ve talked with a number of Realtors® across the state who are seeing the same in their markets. They’re still seeing multiple offers, but fewer than they saw just a few months ago.

This is a time when a Realtor’s® expertise is so important to both buyers and sellers. Both will need to adjust their expectations to the shifting market. Buyers may be entering the market more cautiously than we’ve seen in the past couple of years and sellers may be seeing fewer offers coming in closer to their listing prices.

Many Realtors® have entered the industry in the past several years and may not have experienced a market where prices are declining. Their sellers are used to seeing multiple offers over asking and buyers who have little room to negotiate. This changing market will require a shift in how we do business as well. There will be more room to negotiate for buyers when that hasn’t been the case in the past couple of years. And sellers will have to adjust their expectations about the selling price of their homes.

It reminds me why so many of us love the business of real estate. Helping people achieve their dreams of owning a home or selling one of their greatest financial assets is a dream career!