I. The following information comes from the Lehigh Valley Asssociation of Realtors (LVAR), Zillow.com and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox and Roach's Agent Metrics.
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Link for the LVAR Report
| Source: LVAR |
Reaction: I feel the important question is in respect to why closed transactions would be down while median price would be up?
Intuition would point to lender mediated activity, less foreclosure instances usually has a buttressing effect on prices.
If you click here, you will see a Supply chart derived from Fox and Roach information. Both non-bank and bank supply decreased. Please click here for the full chart.
| From BHHS Agent Metrics |
| LVAR Market Report |
In Summation, growth in the Lehigh Vally has been cumulatively slow. However, there are certainly areas that have grown more abundantly.
II. This is a good synopsis of the area.
It seems that both Catasaqua and Saucon Valley were up over 10% while Allentown and Easton lagged behind. I think as the cities reposition themselves, it will be interesting to see how things grow from an aggregate level.
III. Zillow's Information collaborates a good deal with LVARs. Here is Zillow's Market Update
In addition to similar Year over Year growth, Zillow gives some good guidance on Negative equity. Negative equity continues to decrease which continues to make the housing market stronger!
IV. Supply of Homes
Supply is down slightly, this is interesting because there are more homes for sale on the last day of the month. Supply is a ratio that divides the amount of homes for sale on the last day of the month by the amount of homes going under contract. There are buyers out there, there just seems to be pent up supply.
Conclusion: The housing market was strong in pockets and I think low oil prices makes it interesting as it gives the Federal Reserve incentive to keep rates modest. That being said, low oil also gives people more power in saving for a down payment. In short, the American Consumer seems to be doing better and this is great!
