Regional Home Sales Down in March

After January and February showed positive numbers in home sales in a 5-county Pittsburgh region, the numbers slipped by 3.3 percent last month. Daniel Murrer, Vice President of RealSTATs says the drop was anticipated.

"Last year there was a tax credit in effect and this year there wasn't, so we were hoping or thinking that there may be a positive trend forming after the first two months of the year, but as it turns out that's not going to be the case for March."

Allegheny County home sales increased by only 12 units compared to March 2010 while Butler and Washington Counties climbed slightly as well. Westmoreland County and Beaver County saw significant decreases in home sales in March.

The number of existing homes sold decreased 2.7 percent from March 2010, and new home sales saw a 9 percent dip compared to last year in the Pittsburgh area.

March isn't the end of the decline according to Murrer. Sales are expected to drop even more through June compared to last year's sales because of the lack of tax credit, but he gives some encouragement for the rest of the year.

"After June, we would think that things would normalize and we would have a positive year over year comparison," says Murrer.

All in all Murrer says, "we're better off" this year compared to two years ago.