What’s the real estate market been doing over the last three months (not counting January, of course)? 

Well, according to the statistics compiled by Trend, the Multiple Listing Service, Montgomery County as a whole had more sales in the last quarter of 2011 than it did a year ago during the same time period. 

To be exact, there were 1,633 homes sold from October to December 2011. That’s a 7.2 percent increase. 

The supply of homes on the market decreased by 12.3 percent during the last quarter compared to the previous year, and it took on average 127 days to sell a home.  The time it took to sell increased by 11.3 percent.  

So the last quarter of 2010, homes were on the market for an average of 15 days less than 2011.  That’s not so bad.  The median sales price for all types of homes was $239,900 for all of Montgomery County while the average sales price was $283,963. 

Both of these figures are down slightly from the previous year.  Some of this decrease is due to the number of pre-foreclosure (short sale) or bank owned properties sold that influence the market since they typically sell for under market value. 

Here is the latest real estate information for the Lansdale area, which is reported by ZIP code.

For Hatfield (19440): The median sales price was $254,500 and remained unchanged from one year ago.  The average number of days a house was on the market before it sold was 97 (which was less than the county average).  During the time period of October-December, there were 21 homes sold, which is slightly down from last quarter of 2010 by 4.5 percent.

For the Lansdale area (19446): The median sales price was $235,000; down just 7.8 percent.   The average number of days a house was on the market was 130 which was an increase from the previous year by 30 days.  There were a total of 79 homes sold which is less than the previous year by 34 percent.

For the North Wales area (19454):  The median sales price was $250,000; down by 13 percent.  There were 76 homes sold in this zip code which was an increase from the previous year by 15 percent.  The average number of days it took for  a home to sell was 112, again under the county average. 

If you take the average of all three areas, the days on market was 113.  With a healthy supply of homes for sale, these statistics for length of time a home is on the market are relatively good. 

Every Wednesday at noon, the Scott Loper Team of Re/Max Realty Group in Harleysville offers some sage advice to potential and current homeowners in our area.  The Scott Loper Team includes Scott Loper, Lisa Loper and Gina Wherry, Re/Max Realty Group, 439 Main Street, Harleysville, PA 19438, 215-256-1200.