Sam Spatter is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7843 or via e-mail.
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After two months of increasing home sales in the Pittsburgh region, there was a 3.3 percent decline during March compared to the same month last year, according to a report released today.
There were 1,804 sales of new and existing homes last month in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties compared to 1,865 in March 2010, according to RealStats, a South Side-based real estate information company.
Sales were up 8.2 percent in January and up 5.1 percent in February compared to the same months last year.
"The drop in March is logical because remember the homebuyer tax credit was in effect at this time last year," said Daniel Murrer, RealStats vice president. "January and February were unexpectedly more active this year than last," he said.
The federal tax credit provided a refund of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and up to $6,500 for repeat buyers.
Three of the five counties actually saw the number of homes sold increase—Allegheny went from 1,080 homes sold in March 2010 to 1,092 in March; Butler rose from 151 to 156; and Washington climbed from 182 to 185. Home sales fell from 160 to 121 in Beaver and from 292 to 250 in Westmoreland.
Despite the fewer house sales, the average home price increased 3.8 percent, RealStats said. It was $151,745 last month compared to $146,237 a year ago.
But median home prices dropped 3.8 percent in March compared to March 2010, RealStats said. Those prices fell to $114,950 from $119,500 a year ago. The median price is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less.