Lehigh Valley, PA Housing Market Ranked Among Hottest in the Country
Fortune magazine’s December 26 issue ranks the top 100 largest U.S. metro areas as predicted by increases in median home sales. Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania is at the top of the list and is expected to be among the top housing markets in the country in 2006.
Local home prices are expected to rise 6.9% next year which will make Lehigh Valley the 11th hottest housing market. If correct, this increase would come on top of a 10% increase in home prices seen in 2004, and what is likely to be an additional 10% increase in 2005.
Year-to-date, the average price of an existing home in Lehigh and Northampton counties is $209,000, up 13%. In the past five years, home prices in the Lehigh Valley have risen 60%. Low interest rates and newcomers fleeing high prices in New York and New Jersey are cited as factors for the increase.