From the Morning Call:
The average price of an existing home in the Lehigh Valley fell slightly in March as the rising number of houses for sale gave buyers more choices and power to negotiate prices.
Prices for existing homes, or resales, fell about 1 percent to $213,000 last month, compared with the year before, and were down 4 percent compared with February.
At the same time, the number of properties listed for sale rose 31 percent, compared with February, according to statistics released this week by the Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors.
The large inventory of available homes has concerned economists, who say the law of supply and demand may slow the rate of appreciation and depress prices.
The high number of homes on the market has been a boon for prospective buyers, who have the freedom to be choosier when they look at homes and make offers below asking price.
Home sales fell last year for the first time in at least 10 years. New listings outpaced home sales by nearly two-to-one last year, according to the Realtors association.
Similar trends have continued during the first quarter of this year. In March, the number of homes sold fell for the 10th month in a row, declining 16 percent.
The total number of homes for sale last month in the Valley was up 45 percent, compared with the same period in 2006.
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Sellers, by most accounts, have been slow to grasp the shift.”A lot of them think we are still in 2005,” said Burnatowski, who’s been a real estate agent since 1983. ”There are only so many buyers out there. And there are so many properties continuing to come on the market.”