The Taming of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Shrew

Is the housing market in Northeastern Pennsylvania
finally settling down and getting back to sensibility?

The drop in our nation’s residential property values over the last few years have been widespread and Northeastern Pennsylvania home owners have not been immune to significant decreases in the value of their homes and equity. Although the real estate market in such areas as Wayne County, PA and Pike County, PA have not felt the extreme swings of the pendulum of the housing market as experienced by many other parts of the state and country, we are still steeped in a sluggish market here that has caused a number of Realtors to flee the field. Can the wild behavior of the housing market be tamed and brought under control?

Within all the doom and gloom with which we are bombarded daily by real estate pundits and government reports there does exist a glimmer of hope that the real estate market in Northeastern PA may have reached the bottom of its dismal abyss. Once you hit bottom, there is only one way to go – up! We can be hopeful that things will begin to improve as early as this year.

Out here in the field, in the trenches of real estate, we are beginning to see signs of housing prices stabilizing and more buyers are testing the real estate waters in and around Wayne and Pike counties. Home sales have increased over the last couple of months to suggest that we are heading for a normal market where the number of homes and their prices are in balance with the number of home buyers and their ability to obtain financing. With still very low interest rates, this part of the housing improvement equation contributes to a recovery.

There are, however, several other elements of the equation that are now flies in the ointment. Even though interest rates are historically low, the more stringent requirements for obtaining a loan have become more restrictive and mortgage lenders are being more cautious in making loans. This is preventing many ready and willing home buyers from entering the market and buying homes.

Another pesky fly is the horrible unemployment situation. Many folks who were ready to buy a home suddenly found themselves without a job, circumventing their plans to buy. No one who is out of work is going to make a purchase of that magnitude no matter how much money they have socked away. Even just the potential of losing a job, is enough to keep many other people out of the market. These people will continue to be conservative with their purchases while the threat of a job loss or income reduction looms around them.

Until the job market and financial sectors improve, the housing market will continue to languish and a recovery will suffer. Fortunately, in Northeastern PA, the employment situation is improving and our bankers are a bit more lenient in their lending qualifications. This bodes well for a decent recovery in our area, especially in Wayne and Pike counties. Another sign of better times is the up-tick in the sale of vacation and retirement homes.

Can we now be hopeful that the Pennsylvania real estate shrew is being tamed? I think that she is beginning to come around, but I wouldn’t throw away my whip yet.

Till Next Time,
Your Agent In The Field