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Home sales here dipped 20 percent in April compared to the same month a year ago, according to data from Lancaster County Association of Realtors.
There were 388 homes sold last month in the county compared to 469 homes sold in April 2007. The average price for homes sold dipped 8.9 percent during the month to $181,510, compared to $199,250 a year ago.
But there could be some light at the end of the tunnel, considering the April numbers bested those of the first three months of the year, when home sales dropped 29.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007. Home sales were off a full one-third in January.
Jeff Funk, president of the Lancaster County Association of Realtors, said the numbers are indicative of a market that is correcting itself.
"The lower number of sales and the lower average sale price are reflective of continuing market adjustments," Funk said.
Still, Lancaster County is much better off than other parts of the country in sales, sale price and foreclosure rate.
Maryland had the worst drop in real estate in this year's first quarter, falling nearly 39 percent compared with the same months last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In Washington, D.C., sales were off almost 35 percent in the first quarter. In Utah, sales were down about 34 percent and, in California, down about 33 percent.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, blamed most of the softening of the housing market over the last year on the "subprime mess," created when consumers with blemished credit records got adjustable-rate loans they couldn't afford after interest rates reset to higher levels.
New residential listings in Lancaster County for April dipped by 1.3 percent to 894, from 904 in 2007.
Jeff R. Geoghan, an agent with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., said "Statistically speaking, it's the same amount of people listing their houses. … The buyers just aren't there."
Geoghan, who blogs about the county's real estate market at www.LancasterCountyBlog.com, said the shrinking pool of buyers is the result of the strict lending policies banks have adopted in response to the subprime collapse.
Flexible Federal Housing Authority loans have become the No. 1 selling mortgage because "easy mortgages for the first-time, credit-challenged and no-doc homebuyer market are gone," Geoghan said.
"Until mortgage companies come back with easy products, the buyers are just going to be sitting it out," Geoghan said.
Geoghan expressed concern about a 69 percent increase in April of expired home listings with real estate agents in the county.
"I think that's because homes are still a little overpriced," he said. "A well-priced, well-marketed home in a good location will always sell quick."
Yun said that home sales and prices throughout most of the country are poised for improvement in the second half of 2008, but the recovery will vary by market.
Funk said he was optimistic that the Lancaster County market will rebound.
The local real estate market has cooled since the first quarter of 2005 — sales increased a whopping 53.7 percent in January 2005. The month followed a record 2004, when 6,198 homes were sold here.
"It could not continue indefinitely, and after the dust settles in the coming weeks and months, we will see a more stable and healthy market," Funk said.
E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com
