- The median sale price for a Lehigh Valley home in August reached $336,500
- Officials say new construction would address the housing supply deficit and enhance accessibility to homeownership
- The Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors released their August report Wednesday
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — An ongoing shortage of available homes has continued to drive up Lehigh Valley home prices, according to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors' latest report.
The median sale price for August was $336,500 — close to surpassing the record set earlier in June, at $338,000.
GLVR's CEO Justin Porembo emphasized the urgent need for new construction to address the supply deficit in the real estate market.
“Expanding the housing supply is crucial to improve accessibility to home ownership. The trajectory of home prices will be heavily influenced by the volume of inventory brought to the market,” he said in the report issued Wednesday.
“Increased homebuilding will help stabilize price growth, while limited construction will result in home prices outpacing income growth.”
Key figures in the August report included:
- The volume of closed sales experienced a 17.2 percent decrease, totaling 638 listings;
- Inventory saw a significant 35.5 percent drop, with 580 units; available in August in Lehigh and Northampton counties;
- The median sale price increased 4.8 percent, to $336,500;
- New listings declined by 11.5 percent, totaling 695;
- Pending sales were down by 9.8 percent, coming in at 657.
GLVR President Howard Schaeffer said rising mortgage rates have also affected the local real estate market.
“Higher mortgage rates are acting as a ‘golden handcuff,’ dissuading homeowners who secured low rates in recent years from selling,” Schaeffer said in the report.
“This has resulted in a bottleneck in the housing market. A survey by Realtor.com found that 82% of home buyers feel ‘locked in’ by their existing low-rate mortgages.
“While we don't anticipate a sudden shift to the ultra-low 2% or 3% averages, the National Association of Realtors foresees the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage potentially reaching 6.4% by year-end, followed by 6% in 2024.”
