Southwestern Pennsylvania experienced a summer surge in home listings this year, according to a report by West Penn Multi-List, Inc.
The report includes statistics from Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
In August 2014, 2,563 residential properties in southwestern Pennsylvania sold for an average price of $184,393. One year later, 2,683 properties sold for an average sale price of $188,781.
New listings also increased by nearly 10 percent in a year — 433 more properties were on the market in August 2015 (4,368) than in August 2014 (3,935), according to the report.
“It’s been pretty consistent across the board,” said Tom Hosack, president of West Penn Multi-List and CEO of Northwood Realty Services. “We’ve seen an increase in listings, which we really needed.”
He credited the spike to “pent-up demand” in the housing market led by local bumps in job security and income. Both, he said, were the last remains of the 2008.
“A lot of people hadn’t bought a home that maybe normally would have,” Hosack said. “In 2008 … when we had a lot of foreclosures, a lot of those people that lost their homes couldn’t qualify for a mortgage until now."
People that rented the last five or six years are finally entering the market, he said.
