2016 was another record year! I had the privilege of closing 38 transaction totaling $21,691,300. My total sold volume since 2014 now exceeds $60,000,000. Thank you to the clients I had the pleasure of serving and the countless referrals I received from past clients and friends.
To learn more about our exclusive reduced commission home selling program and view recently sold properties, please visit www.ListSmartPA.com
MARKET ACTIVITY
Settled units were up in Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties versus 2015, and we saw modest price appreciation ranging from 1.5% to 3.75%. Inventory is extremely low with all three counties reporting 4 months of inventory or less (6 months is considered a neutral market). The Main Line saw a higher increase in settled units. Click Here to view market activity by School District.
SETTLED TRANSACTIONS BY COUNTY
2015 2016 %Change
Chester County 6,350 6,517 2.63%
Delaware County 5,739 6,317 10.07%
Montgomery County 9,239 9,920 7.37%
PENDING TRANSACTIONS BY COUNTY
DEC 15 DEC 16
Chester County 313 341
Delaware County 321 340
Montgomery County 499 482
INVENTORY ACCUMULATION BY COUNTY
DEC 15 DEC 16
Chester County 4.5 3.7
Delaware County 5.7 4.0
Montgomery County 4.5 3.5
The Pennsylvania housing market continues to look positive, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®. The fourth quarter of 2016 experienced an increase in home sales, compared to the previous year. Existing home sales were up 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter with 33,188 sales, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 and were up 7.2 percent overall in 2016 with 137,526 sales.
The median sales price rose in the fourth quarter as well, up 4.6 percent to $170,000, compared to the same quarter in 2015. The year ended with the median sales price up 2.8 percent higher than 2015.
Homes are selling quicker in many markets. Days on market dropped 6.3 percent from 80 days in 2015 to 75 in 2016. The number of new listings entering the market continued to fall in the fourth quarter of 2016, down 7.5 percent, compared to the same period in 2015. The months supply was at 4.8 in the fourth quarter, down 25 percent from the same quarter in 2015.
We’ve seen a continuing trend of fewer listings entering the market, with an overall decrease of 4 percent in inventory in 2016, PAR says. This has created a competitive market because there are fewer homes available. Inventory is lower and demand is growing. Homes that are in good condition and priced competitively are seeing multiple offers. This could continue to be a challenge in the new year.
PAR says the percentage of original list price received is up as well. Statewide, we saw properties selling at 93.5 percent of the original list price. Overall, Realtors® are positive about the market in 2017 and we’re continuing to see low interest rates and low unemployment rates which inspires consumer confidence. Source: Pennsylvania Association of Realtors 1/13/17
Mortgage rates (1/18/17):
4.125% for 30 year fixed
3.99% for FHA/VA
3.5% for 15 year fixed
3.375% for 5 year arm
REAL ESTATE NEWS
Municipal Code and Ordinance Compliance Act. The Pennsylvania Municipal Code and Ordinance Compliance Act (MCOCA) sets forth procedures which must be followed by municipalities that require property maintenance and other code inspections upon the sale of a residential property. MCOCA was recently amended through Act 133 of 2016 to address situations in which municipalities were not following the Act, leading to some real estate transactions being postponed or cancelled due to minor property maintenance violations. The amendments in Act 133 clarify the rights and responsibilities of both municipalities and property owners so these issues don't occur in the future.
State task force working to change PA’s property assessment rules. Pennsylvania has the least regulated and most antiquated property assessment system in the country due to the fact that some counties in the state go without updating their property values for decades. The longer government waits to reassess, the higher the cost. Property owners may pay more in taxes than they really should and go to court to fix it, racking up legal defense fees. Other government entities - county and local government as well as public schools – are often left with an inaccurately assessed tax base. The state’s Reassessment Reform Task Force has been working on the issue for about eight years and will next meet on Jan. 26. Some proposed changes include: set statewide data collection and training standards; require that county assessors be a certified property evaluator; consistent submission of property sales information to STEB; considering or developing a quantitative trigger for reassessments; and splitting the bill for tax base-wide reassessments among counties, municipalities and school districts. Source: Newsworks.org; 1/3/2017
Debate over school property taxes expected to head back to Legislature. The Pennsylvania Legislature is expected to see debate over school property taxes again in 2017. Senate supporters say the Nov. 8 election provided the necessary votes to eliminate school property taxes entirely and replace them with other revenue sources. That would mean shifting about $14 billion in taxes from property owners, including businesses, to Pennsylvania consumers and workers through sales and personal income taxes. The leading proposal would increase the income tax rate by 60 percent and hike the state sales tax rate by 17 percent while applying it to a wider range of goods and services, such as groceries, clothing, basic tv, and funeral services. The bill would allow the collection of school property taxes only to retire current debt, would give districts an inflationary aid increase annually, and would require voter approval for school boards seeking a local income tax increase. An Associated Press analysis of state data found that more than 70 percent of school property taxes were collected by the wealthiest half of school districts in 2014-15. Districts in the bottom half of average household income collected an average of less than $4,500 in property taxes per student, while school districts in the top half collected nearly $9,000 per student. Of the current proposed plan, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said while Wolf “could support taking steps toward elimination, the details of such a plan are very important, especially how and whether local communities would contribute directly to school funding.”
Source: Daily Local News; 1/4/2017
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