Home sales on rise in Lehigh Valley

The housing inventory shortage is far from over, but the number of homes listed for sale in the Lehigh Valley is on the rise. 

In February, new listings in Lehigh and Northampton counties increased 18.7% from the year before, jumping to 634, according to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors trade association.   

And pending sales totaled 579, up 23.2% from February 2021. 

With inventory at historic lows, buyers are still having a difficult time finding a house, Justin Porembo, CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors, said in a release. A silver lining, however, “is we’re leaving the winter lull, and even though inventory will still be tight, the lead up to the spring market always brings new opportunities and new listings.” 

Howard Schaeffer, 2022 president of the association, said people who had been on the fence about selling their homes are now moving ahead. 

He recently listed two such properties in one day, he said.  

Schaeffer said he’s seeing more foreclosures, too, and that adds housing inventory as well, as those properties come on the market. 

There are still a plethora of buyers, he said, but affordability isn’t what it was last year as home prices and interest rates climb. 

The median sales price in February rose 16% from 12 months ago, to $264,000.  

Schaeffer said the landscape is going to continue to change, with even more interest rate hikes in the cards, so buyers should act quickly. 

Here are some more highlights from the February report for Lehigh and Northampton counties: 

• Closed sales fell 4.6%, to 418. 
• The percentage of list price received was 101.5%, so houses continued to sell for above asking price. 

• Homes sold, on average, in 24 days. 

Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors also covers less populous, more rural Carbon County. In February, the median sales price there rose to $221,000. And it took an average of 37 days for a listing to sell, about the same as a year ago.