Pending Sales Highest Since April 2004;

Lancaster County Real Estate Continues Upswing 


 

Lancaster, PA — The Lancaster County Association of Realtors® (LCAR) released their

monthly recap of the area’s real estate market activity in April 2010. The market continues to show

steady improvement which, according to LCAR, may be a reflection of a slowly strengthening

economy.

 

• Pending home sales rose to 648 from 484 in April 2009—a 33.9 percent increase. This is the

largest number of pending sales in April since 2004.

 

• Pending sales in all price ranges reflected double digit increases:

 

               Price Rnage                     April 2010                 April 2009                    Percentage

               $0 - 100,000                         75                            51                                47.1

          100,001 - 200,000                    354                          268                               32.1

          200,001 - 300,000                    154                          117                               31.6

          300,001 - 400,000                     47                            32                                46.9

          400,001+                                   18                            16                                12.5

        

         Total                                          648                          484                                33.9

 

• New listings increased 32.2 percent over April 2009.

 

• Nearly half (49 percent) of the homes and condos that sold in April were on the market for 60 days

or fewer.

 

LCAR president Bob Rose commented, “This is the eleventh straight month we’ve seen an increase in

pending sales. While the average sale price was down 1.9 percent over last April, we’re still seeing a

5.0 percent increase over the same time period (January through April) last year.”

 

“While I still think the tax credits were a contributing factor, we’ve seen the numbers go up in all price

ranges which reflects broader market improvement.” “Even without the tax credit, there are a number of market factors making this an exceptionally good time to buy—historically low interest rates and reasonable prices. Our market remains strong and stable, so we’d expect to see steady activity through the summer.”