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Local real estate brokers are optimistic that the local market will continue in 2015 a three-year upswing as sellers accept lower prices and first-time buyers gradually return.
Home sales by members of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association of Realtors rose modestly in 2014 after recovering from a slow first quarter depressed by harsh weather. The weather has been just as dismal this year, but activity so far is strong, said Ted Poggi, broker/owner of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Poggi Realtors.
There’s been an almost 10 percent increase in the value of deals closed during the first two months this year, Poggi said, and he expects the trend to continue.
“I’m bullish on this year,” Poggi said, with interest rates staying low and plenty of inventory. “There’s just a lot of pent-up demand on the selling side.”
Active listings among member agencies are hovering around 1,900, very near the total sales last year. “Whatever sells it’s replenishing,” Poggi said.
Association records show 2,054 single-family homes were sold in 2014, compared to 2,000 in 2013 and 1,789 in 2012. The 2014 number is 23 percent higher than in 2011, a low point at the end of the last recession.
The average selling price of $131,026 extended a three-year trend, but there was a wide variation in price changes in different parts of Luzerne County. The Hazleton area is underrepresented because there is a separate realtor organization there.
Seller acceptance
Poggi thinks sellers have come to accept that prices were unsustainably inflated in the early and mid 2000s, and have become willing to list at more realistic values. He’d like to see an uptrend, which would signal stronger first-time buyer activity that would drive the market higher.
Since most sellers plan to buy another home at today’s lower prices, “what they’re losing on selling a house they’re gaining on buying a new one,” he said.
The Back Mountain continued to hold the top spot for the number of sales, although the total of 296 was 5 percent below 2013. The average selling price in the north-county suburban area rose 6 percent to $207,507.
The Mountaintop area showed a decline in volume – 190 sales, down 18 percent – and the average price of $224,702 slipped nearly 1 percent.
Sales in Pittston rose 13 percent to 166 units, and the average sale price was up 15 percent to $118,724.
Wilkes-Barre City was the second-highest sales area with 232 closings, and prices rose nearly 10 percent to $53,749.
“We had probably one of our best years ever in 2014,” said Darren Snyder, broker/owner of Marilyn K. Snyder Real Estate in the city.
“A lot of people are looking for deals,” he said. “You can get so much more bang for your buck in the city.”
Snyder has noticed increasing interest from buyers new to area. Some plan to live in the homes and others plant to rent them out.
‘Good selection’
He agrees that the inventory of homes for sale is high.
“There’s still a good selection; it’s definitely still a buyer’s market,” he said.
Buyers also are helped by continuing low interest rates and several programs that require little or even no down payment.
“The major thing is if you have good credit,” Snyder said, which makes even conventional bank loans attainable.
The local outlook is more positive than what many national housing experts have predicted. They project sluggish sales, modest price appreciation and a shrinking pool of buyers as interest rates rise and incomes don’t keep pace. On the positive side, they expect that the so-called Millennials, under the age of 35, will become the largest buyer segment, boosting first-time sales.
Snyder echoes the importance of strong economic fundamentals to the housing market. Low interest rates are good, but “people need to have good jobs,” he said.
The new home market remains stagnant, said Kevin Smith, broker/owner at Century 21/Smith-Hourigan.
“None of the developers have felt demand was sufficient to create new developments,” Smith said. There’s also a shortage of good, level lots in the Back Mountain. “There are people who really want to build, but they can’t find good lots.”
Overall, Smith said, “fortunately it’s a stable market and always has been.”
Interest in multi-family properties declined 12 percent last year after falling 5 percent in 2013. The average sale price of $63,540 was off about 2 percent.
Commercial property sales rebounded from several years of slack, rising 28 percent to 77 closings; the average sale price jumped 28 percent to $183,475, driven by a few large deals in Plains Township.