It’s been a long winter for the real estate market, but spring is ahead and sales are starting to thaw.

According to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtor Association, the number of closed sales in January in Carbon County was just 30 after a high this fall of 66 in October.

“Real estate in January did not come in with a bang, but mortgage rates have dropped significantly from their peak last fall,” said GLVR CEO Justin Porembo.

The good news is that the number of newly listed houses jumped to 64 after the holidays, and 57 sales were pending. Both of these are the highest since October and the holiday slump.

“Homebuyers are beginning to come out of the woodwork,” Porembo said. “The National Association of Realtors is forecasting a 13 percent increase in existing-home sales this year compared to 2023.”

With the cold of winter, the median sales price was pretty chilly. It took a 19% dip year-to-year ending up at $182,500 in January. September was the highest it has been since autumn at $258,750, according to GLVR’s report of monthly indicators.

Unlike the median sales price that has had larger fluctuations, the average sales price has been wobbling within a $30,000 price difference from September through January.

The median sales price takes all sales prices from the month and divides it by the number of sales. Whereas the average sales price is the middle of a bell curve of the majority of sales.

For average sales price, it has remained in mid-$200,000 range.

The average sales price in September was $250,535. It dipped to $217,765 in October, then back up to $254,625 in November. It cooled again to $224,219 in December and continued to chill to $221,930 in January.

As for the hottest communities in Carbon County, the Lehigh Valley Realtors’ Annual Report for 2023 showed that Jim Thorpe topped out with the highest median sales price at $287,000. Palmerton was on its heels at $250,000. Weatherly is third at $215,000, followed by Lehighton at $180,000 and Panther Valley at $112,500.

The annual report showed that most houses that closed the deal in the greater Lehigh Valley area cost between $200,001 and $300,000 in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Houses selling at $100,000 or less had the fewest closed sales.

The second price group of houses to reach the finish line were priced between $100,001 to $200,000 in 2021, but $300,001 to $400,000 took second in 2022 and 2023.

Although the more expensive houses were selling faster than the lower priced house, rising interest rates did cool the housing market.

There were 8,738 houses that closed in 2021 in the greater Lehigh Valley area. This dropped to 6,193 in 2023. That’s 2,545 houses fewer homes two years later.

“Nationally, listing activity has started to pick up, and with mortgage rates stabilizing and housing completions on the rise, inventory is expected to improve in the coming months,” said Lehigh Valley Realtors President Lori Campbell. “Per the usual cyclical trends, the positive signs in the market will mean a hopeful and exciting spring market.”