Here's the latest sales report from our local realtor board - straight off the presses less than an hour ago!
According to a recent report by the Lancaster County Association
The $197,230 average sale price for August is a 4.1 percent decrease from the August 2007 price tag of $205,702. In August 2007, 29 homes sold over $400,000, compared to only 13 in 2008. The fiveyearaverage sale price for the month of August is $193,570. In August of 1998, the average sale price of a home in Lancaster County was $127,445, a 54.8 percent increase compared to today's price.
The median sale price for August of 2008 is $177,000 versus $182,500 for August of 2007 (half of the properties sold during this period sold above that number, and half sold below). For the first eight months of 2008, the median sale price is $175,000 compared to $176,900 during the same time period in 2007.
New residential listings for August decreased 12.4 percent from 831 in 2007 to 728 in 2008. The average number of new listings for the month of August over the last five years is 722.
"August sales were lower due to the tight mortgage credit and higher interest rates that were in place before the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae," said LCAR president, Jeff Funk. "Locally homes that are under $250,000, priced right and in good condition are selling quickly-61 percent of the sales from August took place in less than 60 days. Another encouraging sign is our year-to-date average sale price which continues to hold fairly steady with 2007 since it's less than a 3 percent decrease."
Thanks for sharing the data and analysis.