In an effort to explain the 9.7 percent decline in real estate prices in South Whitehall Township over the past year, D. Brad Patt compared the current real estate market to basketball.
Last year, with federal tax credits, it was like playing ball with a big, oversized rim that allowed a team to roll up the points on almost every shot, he said. But this year the rim is back to normal size, and it's harder to score.
The senior vice president of Prudential Patt, White Real Estate and The Premier Group in Allentown isn’t accustomed to talking about a slow market. But that is his task these days.
“This year is a normal, non tax credit market,’’ Patt said. “Last year, the government was giving tax credits.“
The tax credits, started in 2009, were aimed by the federal government at correcting the worst real estate market since the Great Depression. They had allowed credits up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers and $6,500 credits to home owners purchasing a new or existing homes.
So when homeowners compare values between this year and 2010, it’s back to normal. The incentive is gone.
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Patt is one of a few real estate people in the Lehigh Valley who has a statistical hand on all sectors of the Lehigh Valley with the Prudential Patt, White Home Expert Report.
The median (the midpoint of the prices) sales price in South Whitehall was $196,950 in May, compared to $218,000 a year ago in May, according to Patt.
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There were 15 homes sold in May in the township, compared to 22 homes sold in May 2010. The number of homes on the market stayed somewhat steady: 142 houses were listed for sale this May, compared to 144 a year before.
Craig Scharadin, a Realtor with the Frederick Group in South Whitehall, has sold houses in the boroughs, towns and cities in the Lehigh Valley since the 1970s.
He said he’s never seen such a strange market as this one. But he keeps plugging away, as he teaches the young sales associates to do. There is still high interest in living in the East Penn and Parkland school districts.
“It seems to me that we’re doing a little better this year,” he said. “We're not booming, but we're better.”
Realtor Larry Ginsburg, president of Prudential Regency Real Estate in Allentown, has been involved in the business throughout the area for 39 years.
“Those selling their homes need to price them properly,“ he said. “We need to get the foreclosures and short sales out of our system.’’
Ginsburg said he feels for the young people entering the business. “There are about 432 sales per month in the Lehigh Valley,’’ he said. “And there are 2,000 Realtors.”
(Dan Shope is an associate for the National Referral Service in Devon.)