Murrysville home sale prices rising faster than county average
November 29th, 2007 - Posted in General NewsA good school district, desirable homes and appealing surroundings have helped increase the value of Murrysville homes in recent years.
While the 2006-07 median sale price of Westmoreland County houses has risen by 1.6 percent over last year, Murrysville home prices are up 9 percent for the same period.
And since 2003-04, the median sale prices of Murrysville homes have increased by 13.9 percent.
from house to HOME
Overall, prices in the region still are rising, but slowly, according to a Tribune-Review analysis of sales data compiled by RealSTATs Inc., which monitors deed transfers.
Local median prices — the midpoint price exceeded by exactly half the homes sold — had their slowest growth in three years.
However, Murrysville remains an attractive community for home buyers. That would explain the municipality’s median sale price of $210,750.
Although other communities in the county have posted larger percentage increases in value since 2003-04, none of those that have done so has a higher median price than Murrysville’s.
Dayna Logan, office manager with Howard Hanna, said the area hasn’t seen the same struggles as others because it didn’t have the same real estate surge that have caused struggles in other markets.
Jim Killion, a developer who will be moving from Trafford to Murrysville once his new Shag Bark Grove development on Mamont Road is complete, said he expects to get good value for the new homes and the one he is in now.
“I have a very nice product,” Killion said.
Although times may be tough for some people who are trying to sell homes, Killion and Logan said the cyclical nature of the market means that while it might not grow as substantially as some would like, homes still are able to sell in the right time of year.
Logan said communities like Delmont and Export have shown appeal for new home owners. While a new home in Delmont might cost $100,000 or $150,000, that same price would buy an older one in Murrysville that would need work.
“They offer a great package,” Logan said.
Still, Delmont’s median sales price has dropped by 9.4 percent over the most-recent three-year period. In 2003-04, borough homes had a median sale price of $149,000. That figure was at $135,000 for 2006-07.
Of the 31 Westmoreland communities analyzed, the median sales figures declined in only eight. Of those, only only South Huntingdon Township — with a decrease of 10 percent — decreased more in value than Delmont.
RealSTATS did not provide sales figures for Export Borough.
Overall, the county’s $120,000 median rose just 1.6 percent, after increasing more than 5 percent for two years straight.
Butler and Washington counties also posted slower growth, and the Beaver County median of $94,340 fell 2.6 percent from the prior year.
And the Allegheny County median of $115,000 for the 12 months ended June 30 was up 2.7 percent over the previous year. That compared to gains near 4 percent each of the two previous years.
Median prices fell last year in almost half of the 223 municipalities and Pittsburgh wards the Trib analyzed, compared to prices declining in one-third of those places each of the previous two years.
In 48 areas, median prices are lower than they were three years ago.
Logan said she is satisfied with how homes have been selling in the area. She said some have stayed on the market for a only week because of the demand.
“Houses are still selling, but they’re taking longer,” said Georgie Smigel, a Coldwell Banker agent whose territory includes the North Hills and Butler County.
Declining values were spread across a mix of neighborhoods. The biggest drop-off was in Jackson Township in Butler County, where a median price that hovered at about $200,000 for three years suddenly fell to $119,000 this year. Smigel said a new subdivision, Jackson Manor, filled up, which curtailed the supply of homes over $200,000.
Tarentum, Carnegie, Charleroi, McKeesport and South Huntingdon saw declines of 10 percent or more.
Southwestern Pennsylvania homes are appreciating slower than elsewhere in the state, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enter-prise Oversight. The agency computes quarterly house price indexes based on sales and refinancing appraisals.
Metropolitan Pittsburgh’s latest quarterly house price index was up 3.5 percent from a year ago.
While slightly better than the nationwide 3.2 percent increase, it trailed Pennsylvania’s other markets, from Philadelphia’s 3.8 percent to Scranton’s 9.9 — the highest increase in the Northeast.
Cleveland and Colum-bus, Ohio, had slower home appreciation than Pittsburgh, and Cleveland values dropped 0.6 percent. Most of the sharpest price declines were in Florida and California, as formerly white-hot markets cooled.
“There haven’t been booms and busts in Pittsburgh in the way there have been in Florida, California and New England,” said Andrew Leventis, senior economist for the Washington agency.
“To the extent that you may have a lower appreciation rate than other places in Pennsylvania, that may not necessarily be a bad thing. It’s certainly not a bad thing for people who are looking to buy a house over the next year or two.”
Killion said the market in Pittsburgh has mostly stayed the same since the steel industry stopped being a force in the region.
“This marketplace just trots along,” Killion said.
New home construction in Southwestern Pennsylvania is down 8 percent for the first 9 months of 2006, said Jeff Burd, whose Tall Timber Group in Ross tracks construction permits.
That’s better than the national picture, where housing starts are down by some 25 percent, he said.
“We’re head and shoulders above the market, no doubt about it, but when we’ll get positive numbers and how much they’ll be positive, I don’t know,” Burd said.