January home sales drop across Pennsylvania

Housing sales in Pennsylvania were down dramatically at the start of the year. 

The state’s housing market saw a 27% decline in the number of sales in January, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors.  

The number of sales was just under 7,000, compared to 9,176 in December. 

Comparatively, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales across the country slipped 0.7% from December 2022 and 36.9% from the previous year. 

 “The real estate market traditionally has seen fewer sales in the winter months. Sales are down about 30% from the same time last year, however that’s due to a number of reasons,” said PAR President Al Perry. “We’ve continued to see a declining number of homes on the market and interest rates are around 6%.” 

PAR reports that the number of listings in January was 30,513, down 16.5% from last year. 

“The number of listings has continued to drop over the past several years and there are currently about 28,000 fewer homes on the market than in January 2020,” Perry said. 

Home prices remained relatively steady, Parry said. The median sales price of homes sold was $195,123 in January, up 2.5% year over year. 

“There’s still strong consumer interest in buying a home and strategically priced homes are selling fairly quickly,” he said.