Record High Home Sale Prices In PA: Will Market Cool Off?

PENNSYLVANIA — It’s not just hot outside in Pennsylvania – the real estate market has been heating up, too, and the Keystone State reached a record high median sales price in June according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors.

The median home sale price in June for Pennsylvania was $229,004 — an increase of 5.5 percent year-over-year, said the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR), citing MLS data. The median sale price increased 4 percent from May's previous record high of $219,811, said the PAR.

The PAR's report also said the number of home sales is down 19.5 year over year. The number of listings "dropped slightly" in June compared to May. The number of home listings in June (35,433) was a 27.5 percent decrease from June 2022, the association added.

If you’re looking to settle into a new single-family home before the 2023-24 school year, you may have trouble finding one. Housing market data shows that Pennsylvania home prices are likely to remain high this summer, as there continues to be more demand than supply.

Pennsylvania Association of Realtors President Al Perry said the lack of inventory "is one of the greatest challenges in the market currently."

"The industry has underbuilt for about a decade, we have a large number of millennials looking to establish a home, and homeowners who have a low mortgage rate are staying in their homes," he said.

Perry added that the market is "complex and can vary across the commonwealth."

“While a majority of markets throughout Pennsylvania are seeing price increases, other areas may see price stabilization or even moderate declines," Perry said.

Redfin's June data differed from the PAR's.

The number of homes sold in the Keystone State fell 18 percent year-over-year according to Redfin, which cited June data from the MLS and public sources. The number of homes for sale also fell 20.4 percent.

High prices persist nationwide

Low home supply is fueling competition and driving up prices to near-record highs nationwide, according to recent reports from Redfin.com.

“Homeowners are staying put because for a majority of them, selling and buying a new house would mean taking on a much higher mortgage rate,” Redfin said.

“Daily average mortgage rates are inching down thanks to cooling inflation, but housing payments are likely to remain elevated because even slightly lower rates may escalate competition for the few homes on the market and push up prices for the foreseeable future,” Redfin added.

Zillow added that the market is "approaching two years of continuous yearly declines in sales."

"Existing home sales will continue to remain suppressed while both sides of this market are feeling the heat of affordability constraints, and we will likely continue to see buyers turning their eyes towards the new construction market – which can offer incentives to tip the scales in favor of buyers budgets as well as offer more available inventory," said Zillow Senior Economist Nicole Bachaud.