Census data shows home values may have bottomed out and are beginning to rebound.
The local housing market is on an upswing, or maybe approaching one. It depends how you look at the numbers.
An analysis of 10 years of data from the Census' American Community Survey shows median home values that have declined in the Lehigh Valley since 2008 have slowed through 2014. The numbers for last year were released Thursday.
Between 2006 and 2014, Pennsylvania saw a 1 percent drop in median values. In that same time, Lehigh County fell 13.2 percent and Northampton dropped 17.2 percent.
More recently, Northampton saw a slight uptick between 2012 and '13, and held just about steady last year.
A local real estate group says that when other metrics are examined, it shows the market has already turned the corner.
"We're in a much, much healthier, more balanced market right now," said Ryan Conrad, CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors.
Conrad said the number of closed sales in the Valley bottomed out in 2009 and have been rebounding since. The group's latest monthly report from August shows median and average sales prices so far in 2015 have increased 2.9 percent to $175,000 over last year.
The GLVR report also shows homes in 2015 are spending an average of 69 days on the market, down almost 3 percent from the previous year.
In New Jersey, the census data shows a small overall upswing in median home values in 2014, according to an analysis by NJ Advance Media. However, many of those gains were in urban areas.
RELATED: Have N.J. home values finally bottomed after years of losses?
Rural counties like Warren and Sussex have suffered the greatest loss in value since 2006 -- both dropping between 20 and 25 percent in that time -- and were among a handful of counties that did not rebound from 2013 to 2014.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
