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EconomicsThe next few months could be tough
The reality is that the next few months are going to be tough for the national economy, unemployment and the real estate industry. If you attended Dr. Austin Jaffe’s seminar at Monday’s PAR Business Meetings you have probably figured that out.
Right now, PA is pretty stable. The PA median home sale prices remain relatively steady at $195,500 which is a decrease of 2.2 percent from 2007. Home sales for 2008 were down more than 23 percent from 2007.
Dr. Jaffe says we are still faring better than other states. “Pennsylvania follows the trends but not at the same magnitude of the formerly ‘hot’ markets of Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.” Jaffe added, “Because prices in Pennsylvania never increased as much or as quickly as in these markets, there’s no reason to expect that prices will fall as much or as rapidly here.”
Jaffe said that the real estate industry will improve only when housing prices stop declining and foreclosure rates stop rising.
“The next few months may be tough, especially if we see an increase in unemployment and foreclosures,” Jaffe says.
According to the latest statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the jobless rate for December was 6.7 percent in Pennsylvania, which is less than the national average of 7.2 percent.
Foreclosure rates were up in December, according to RealtyTrac, Pennsylvania ranked 32 in the nation.
“People never expected this to happen,” Jaffe says. “Declining home prices have resulted in lower general economic conditions which is something we have not seen in one to two generations.”
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Samantha Elliott Krepps was the Communications & Media Relations Manager at the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®. |
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