Home sales way up year over year (Pittsburgh, Dormont: for sale, rent)

[XRiteMA98]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Good time to put my house on the market!

I was just thiking that!

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Good time to put my house on the market!

Why have you grown tired of McKees Rocks? Is it a crime issue?

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

The east end market has been hot. Lots of bidding battles and fast sales.

Hopefully this does not become a metro wide trend. This kind of activity happened in many areas of Connecticut in the late 1980's and it resulted in a collapse of the real estate market. A friend of mine paid something like $110,000 for a three family fixer upper which realistically was not worth more than $30,000 at that time. He and his wife lost the house a few years later when they could no longer make payments.

[algia]

I know that, but that would mean people would actually have to have a lot of chops to qualify, and I don't know where the raises are, or the jobs.... or better said "who" those jobs with raises are reserved for, because I doubt the food/retail industries lower levels are amongst them.

My thing is that more people would try to sell their homes for prices that do not justify the condition of the home, and its ability to re-sell at some other point in the future.

I see two homes being on the market here for two years (according to realtor.com and other public records) and I spoke with a RE about it, and it is the noise that is the biggest factor in selling those homes, yet the prices have not been reduced to what these places are truly "worth"....but whatever...

Originally Posted by h_curtis

It is very unlikely there will be a housing bubble. Firstly, banks don't make loans like they were to promote such a thing. You actually need more than a pulse to get a loan these days. Secondly, Pittsburgh moves slow. In this case, slow wins the race. I have no fear of a housing bubble. I do feel there will be more homes on the market after the reassessment hits. There will no doubt be some that want to leave if they get hit with a triple or even a quad reassessment.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by algia

Have salaries gone up too? Just curious!

I foresee another bubble if this keeps happening. A house that's not worth 200k, should not be sold for $300k. Again, that common sense. We'll keep renting if this is the case, as we see no valid reason as to why we should overpay for something that most likely needs a ton of work too.

Outside of a few trendy areas, this isn't the case in Pittsburgh at all.

But there are always going to be some people with Fox Chapel tastes when they are on a Braddock budget that like to complain.

I think a lot of people are getting more comfortable in the economy and are more willing to make a change- either selling a home and buying a different one, or going from renting to selling.

[algia]

I do feel there will be more homes on the market after the reassessment hits

On that, do you think its "OK" to put that tax burden on others? I don't think so. If they don't like the assessment my husband said that they can fight that in court no problem. Why would anyone else in the "buying" camp would ever want to be hit with that?

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The article:

Spring Comes Early for Southwestern Pennsylvania Real Estate Market - MarketWatch



As noted new listings were up too, but not as much as sales. All this could get interesting this year.

Lets get back on point. It could be an interesting year. I think Pittsburgh is growing a little, but the unknown variable is the reassessments and the effects on people. Once that is over, I think a stabilization will occur and values will increase a little at a time. On the other hand, if the reassessments have a larger effect than we think, that could add to the supply of homes and then natural supply and demand issues will take over. Prices will drop. It will be an interesting year, but my gut says it will be stagnant and a slow increase in value later.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Hopefully this does not become a metro wide trend.

I agree. There is nothing wrong with a lot of sales per se and some competition among buyers for top properties, but overall you want at least a rough match between supply and demand, and you don't want to see people feeling like they need to rush into buying just to get something decent. And all that is independent of the housing bubble issue--this is just a description of a housing market that is functioning well for both buyers and sellers.

[SuburbanPioneer]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The article:

Spring Comes Early for Southwestern Pennsylvania Real Estate Market - MarketWatch



As noted new listings were up too, but not as much as sales. All this could get interesting this year.

Interesting data indeed. Percentage wise counties surrounding Allegheny county are doing substantially better, especially in home sales:

Allegheny County:

11.89 percent increase in new listings (1,278 homes versus 1,430)

25.43 percent increase in homes placed under agreement (1,227 homes versus 1,539)

Beaver County:

27.41 percent increase in new listings (135 homes versus 172)

52.78 percent increase in homes placed under agreement (144 homes versus 220)

Butler County:

25.15 percent increase in new listings (171 homes versus 214)

42.76 percent increase in homes placed under agreement (152 homes versus 217)

Washington County:

3.74 percent increase in new listings (187 versus 194)

54.05 percent increase in homes placed under agreement (148 versus 228)

Westmoreland County:

21.71 percent increase in new listings (281 homes versus 342)

61 percent increase in homes placed under agreement (241 homes versus 388)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

I think a lot of people are getting more comfortable in the economy and are more willing to make a change- either selling a home and buying a different one, or going from renting to selling.

I also think that is the main driving force behind the trends documented in the OP.

Although we didn't get the worst of the recession, we didn't entirely escape it either, and obviously people are aware of national conditions. But the local economy has in fact been recovering nicely (to the point we are apparently setting new highs for employment), and recently the national recovery has been going better too. So it isn't surprising that the housing-for-ownership market is picking up.

And unlike some places, here we aren't burdened by large numbers of underwater owners, foreclosure sales, overbuilt developments, and so on. So there aren't a lot of constraints on that market right now (although I do have a longer-term concern about adequacy of supply in key areas).