Lehigh Valley Real Estate

Locally, housing costs still remain lower than national averages, but data from real estate marketplaces compared with U.S. Census data in Lehigh and Northampton counties show housing affordability still is a struggle.

In 2025, LehighValleyNews.com readers gravitated toward stories that reflected mounting economic pressure, public safety concerns, environmental uncertainty and moments of sharp civic tension.

The rebate is meant to help seniors, widows and widowers and residents with disabilities who paid property taxes or rent in 2024.

Easton was honored in the AARP's 2026 10 Great — and Affordable — Places for Older People to Live list, making it the only place in Pennsylvania to be included in the roundup.

Applicant Nicholas Youssef envisions an all-new three-story building at 330 East Fourth St., featuring four two-bedroom apartments in the upper floors and about 1,800 square feet of ground-level commercial space.

Developers behind a 34-unit apartment intended for Easton's North 4th Street tried to challenge an ordinance restricting building heights and sizes at the city's Thursday Zoning Hearing Board meeting.

Upper Macungie's planning commission voted Wednesday to recommend preliminary approval for a planned 203-home development connecting Schantz Road and Bastian Lane.

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission's Comprehensive Planning Committee on Tuesday reviewed a proposal for a 2.6 million-square-foot hyperscale data center in Upper Macungie Township, citing a litany of missing information as a concern.

Easton's Zoning Hearing Board approved a subdivision of the Hooper House property Monday, which will let the Rock Church keep an adjoining parcel that contains the Timothy House.

For Julius, 32, and others of the encampment, the homeless population is “always in a state of flux,” he said, and there are a variety of reasons any particular person could find themselves in a similar situation.

Groundbreaking for a 72-unit apartment expansion was held at Fellowship Community senior independent living in Whitehall Township on Friday.

There's still a ways to go before developers know what will be going inside the historic Wells Fargo bank building at 52 W. Broad St., according to Plamen “Rocco” Ayvazov, head of Monocacy Builders, the property owner.

City officials will later hear more on the vision and take a vote on the new $25 million building at 701-719 N. New St. The vote on April 1 pertained to the zoning classification of the land in question, located just a couple of blocks up from the action on Main Street.

Allentown planning officials granted a one-year extension to Cortex Residential as it awaits state funding for its project.

Lower Macungie's Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to buy 44 acres of farmland on Lower Macungie Rd. Township officials previously approved a 30-building, 180-unit apartment complex on the site.

Bethlehem’s Pembroke Choice project is giving residents “the opportunity to plan what the next generation of their neighborhood looks like,” Mayor J. William Reynolds said Saturday.

This time around, developers look to better conceal the addition among neighboring structures, setting it back 28 feet from the original facade instead of a previously proposed 6 feet.

More than a dozen new apartments could be built in Allentown, though six more were rejected Monday night.

Local officials highlighted the project's potential to make a small dent in the Lehigh Valley's deep housing deficit.

A conditional use hearing for a 170-unit apartment complex on Van Buren Road addressed a potential right-of-way issue during Monday's Palmer supervisors meeting, although the hearing has been continued until April.

Officials held a grand opening for 1528 West Apartments on Friday, which is World Down Syndrome Day. Ten of its 49 apartments are reserved for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The almost four-acre property is near the intersection of Easton Avenue and Farmersville Road, across from Blue Grillhouse and just down from Notre Dame High School.

Easton Housing Authority obtained a set of variances that will allow for development of a 45-unit affordable senior housing project and dedicated parking in the West Ward.

Several planning commission members questioned the use of a gate to regulate traffic and suggested developer Manny Makhoul instead extend Turner Street across his property.