It’s still a sellers’ market in residential real estate

April brought no relief to the persistent inventory shortage in the local residential real estate market but did see home prices decline in the Harrisburg area.

Greater Harrisburg

“I would say that we continue to be in a strong sellers’ market,” Wendell Hoover, 2023 president of the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors, wrote in an email. “Homes priced correctly will most likely receive multiple offers, often above list. This is the case for both single family and multi-unit properties in my experience.”

He said lack of houses for sale “continues to be the most prevalent issue, combined with a strong demand.”

In the three counties covered by the association, closed sales in April year over year were down 28% in Cumberland County (268 to 193), 25.8% in Dauphin County (314 to 233) and 47.2% in Perry County (36 to 19).

The median sold price of $285,000 was down 2% from April 2022 in Cumberland. Average days on market was 31 last month and average sold to original list price ratio was 100.9%, or just above asking price.

In Dauphin, the median sold price in April was $213,900, down 7% from the previous year. Average days on market was 35 and average sold to OLP ratio was 99.8.

Perry’s median sold price was $219,000, a 4.8% drop from April 2022. Average days on market was 33 and average sold to OLP ratio was 99.2%.

Tracy Klinger, 2023 vice president of the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors, said houses in the $200,000-$300,000 range are still going very quickly.

“Working with buyers is a challenge,” she said. “You have to make the buyer aware of what they’re up against.”

Agents who represent buyers often have to write the best offer for the seller in this market, Klinger said, not the best one for the buyer.

York-Adams

In York County, 445 homes sold in April, a 16% drop from last year, and 75 sold in Adams County, a 31% decrease.

Year to date, the 276 settlements in Adams County are down 21% from April 2022 and the year-to-date 1,536 sales in York County are 21% lower as well.

In April alone, the 76 houses sold in Adams County are 31% fewer than a year ago; in York County, the 445 settlements are 16% fewer.

Year to date, the median sales price in Adams County was $268,700 in April, a 1% increase from 2022. The median sales price in York County year to date was $250,000, an 11% rise.

Noting that the median home price continues to climb as sales shrink, Reid Weinbrom, 2023 president of the Realtors Association of York & Adams Counties, said in a release: “The reason is simple: supply and demand economics. We have ready, willing and able buyers. We simply do not have enough inventory to meet the demand of those in our community who want to purchase homes. While sellers have become more cautious, those choosing to their list homes are still receiving, in many cases, multiple competitive offers.” Nationally, total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – slid 3.4% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million in April, the National Association of Realtors reported. Year-over-year, sales slumped 23.2%, down from 5.57 million in April 2022.

Lancaster County

In Lancaster County, closed sales totaled 320 in April, a year-over-year decline of 29.7%. The median sold price reached $300,000, 7.1% more than in April 2022.

Average days on market was 19, down from 22 in March, with 210 of the sold homes being on the market no more than 10 days. Average sold to original list price ratio was 102.5%.

Though housing inventory still isn’t keeping up with buyer demand, Jeff Peters, president-elect of the Lancaster County Association of Realtors, noted the 16.1% jump in new pending sales in April.

“Homes also continued to sell above their original asking price,” he said, “and cash buyers maintained their dominance with nearly 33% of all sales in April.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer