The median home sale price in Center County last month was more than 11% higher than it was the year before, area realtors say.
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The median home sale price in Centre County in March was more than 11% higher than it was the year before, according to data recently published by the county realtors’ association.
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The median sale price last month was approximately $345,000, checking in above last March’s median price of roughly $310,000. That’s an increase of about 11.3%, according to the Centre County Association of Realtors’ residential market trend report for March.
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Meanwhile, national real estate site Redfin reported a median home sale price of roughly $347,600 for Centre County in March. Here is how that stacks up against the rest of Pennsylvania:
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Note: This graphic will automatically update as new data become available.
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March’s median home sale price fell approximately 7.5% below February’s mid-point price of roughly $373,000. That month’s figure marks the highest monthly median home sale price of the past five years, according to the Centre County Association of Realtors.
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The county’s median home sale price has generally increased over the last five years, though growth surged more steadily in 2022 and early 2023, despite a sharp fall in January.
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Eighty-one property sales closed in March, the Centre County Association of Realtors said. That’s down about 14% year-over-year, but up 72.3% from February, when just 47 property sales were finalized.
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Additionally, 140 new properties were listed through the association in March, down a bit from the month’s five-year average of 166 new listings. March’s number of active listings (154) was also down from the month’s five-year average (194), the association said in its report.
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Properties left the market quickly last month, according to the monthly report. Units sold throughout the month spent an average of 24 days on the market, falling 53% below the five-year average of 51 days for the month.
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The association observed a 52.1% month-over-month increase in new contract activity with 111 new pending sales, plus a 31.8% month-over-month increase in the “all pendings” category, which includes new contracts and contracts carried over from February.
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Centre County’s real estate activity in March resulted in a contract ratio of 0.92 pending sales per active listing — an increase from February’s 0.86 contract ratio, but a sharp decrease from March 2022’s 2.11 pending sales per active listing.
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Generally, a higher contract ratio reflects an increase in contract activity compared to the local supply, the Centre County Association of Realtors said in its monthly report. High contract ratios generally indicate a market is moving in the favor of sellers.
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Elsewhere, Realtor.com reports the State College area reflects a buyer’s market, indicating the local supply of homes exceeds demand.
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On average, State College’s home values have increased by about 5.8% over the last year, according to Zillow’s Home Value Index. The area’s average home value sits at about $377,000, according to data available through March 31.
Matt is a 2022 Penn State graduate. Before arriving at the Center Daily Times, he served as Onward State’s managing editor and a general assignment reporter at StateCollege.com.