Home sales across the Lehigh Valley cooled noticeably in September, with closed sales falling 6.1% to 580 transactions even as the number of homes sitting on the market climbed sharply. The slowdown came even though prices kept rising, with the median sale in Lehigh and Northampton counties reaching $375,000, up 6.8% from a year earlier.
Inventory Climbs as Buyers Gain Leverage
The data, released in an Oct. 15 press release from Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors, showed pending sales also dropped, down 7.7% to 552 listings, while new listings fell 6.9% to 723. At the same time, available inventory across Lehigh and Northampton counties jumped 10.8% to 963 units, according to a report from lvb.com. That pushed the months' supply of inventory in the Lehigh Valley up 12.5% to 1.8 months.
Justin Porembo, CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors, said growing inventory gives buyers more options than they had a year earlier, though he cautioned that the market remains well below balanced supply. More inventory, he said, can ease competition and improve affordability for house hunters who have faced a tight market for years. Homes in the Lehigh Valley still sold briskly, averaging 20 days on the market, one day slower than the previous September, while sellers received 100.8% of their list price on average, a slight uptick from the year before.
Realtors Say Sellers Still Hold the Edge
Cliff Lewis, 2026 president of the association, said the market remains competitive despite the slower sales pace, noting that well-priced homes continue to move quickly and that sellers retain a strong position in many parts of the market. Lewis advised buyers and sellers to understand conditions specific to their price range and neighborhood, and to work with a Realtor to navigate them. Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors is a not-for-profit trade group representing more than 3,000 Realtors across Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties, according to the group's separate annual housing report covered by lvpnews.com.
In Carbon County, the slowdown told a somewhat different story. Closed sales totaled 65, with 59 pending and 77 new listings, while inventory stood at 170 units and homes took an average of 27 days to sell — slower than the Lehigh Valley pace. The median sales price in Carbon County actually decreased to $245,000, a contrast to the price gains seen in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
How This September Compares to Last Year
The dip marks a reversal from September 2025, when closed sales in Lehigh and Northampton counties had actually risen 3.7% to 589 listings and inventory sat far lower, at 806 units, according to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors. Homes sold faster that September too, in an average of 19 days, and the median price was $352,500 — notably lower than this year's $375,000. Carbon County's inventory was also tighter a year ago, at 190 units with 3.3 months of supply, compared with 170 units this September.
The local slowdown mirrors a broader statewide pattern. Pennsylvania's median home sales price fell 4.5% month over month to $315,000 in September, even as it rose 6% year over year, per data distributed via PR Newswire. Statewide listings rose 1.6% from August to 46,549, though they remained down about 2% from a year earlier, and statewide home sales dropped 10% month over month and nearly 9.5% year over year.
Mortgage Rates and the National Picture
Nationally, the trends were more mixed. Existing-home sales actually rose 1.5% in September from the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors, increasing in the South and West, holding steady in the Midwest, but declining in the Northeast. Year over year, though, sales declined in all four U.S. regions. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said higher inventory and longer time on the market are giving buyers improved negotiating power.
Mortgage costs remain a headwind for buyers. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.03% as of Sept. 24, up from 6.95% the week before and well above the 6.30% average recorded a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac. Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors' annual housing report, issued in February, had forecast that rates would stay in the 6% range through 2026, supporting incremental affordability gains, and projected the year would bring stabilization and recovery rather than dramatic change. Whether that outlook holds may hinge on how local buyers and sellers respond to a market where buyers have more options than a year earlier.
