West Penn Multi-List, Inc. issued its year-end residential real estate report today. When comparing 2019 with 2018, home sales and prices have risen from last year at this time, but home listings have dropped slightly.

"Overall, 2019 was a good year for residential real estate, reaching more than $6 billion in closed sales volume," said Tom Hosack, current president of West Penn Multi-List, Inc., and president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty. "It's still a good environment to buy or sell a home, but the question remains whether or not the supply of homes will be able to meet the demand for homes this year."

When comparing January-December 2019 with the same time period in 2018:

• Closed sales are up 3.86 percent (30,356 units in 2019 versus 29,228 in 2018);
• Closed sales volume is up 9.36 percent ($6,079,851,460 in 2019 versus $5,559,253,284 in 2018);
• Average sales price is up 5.30 percent ($200,285 in 2019 versus $190,203 in 2018); and
• Home listings are down 0.53 percent (39,847 units in 2019 versus 40,059 in 2018).

"Mortgage rates have been low for most of last year, and they just recently hit their lowest level since October," said Hosack. "This could cause further tightening of inventory since many homeowners already refinanced their mortgage or bought when rates were low, so they don't intend to sell."

Statistical data in this report is supplied by West Penn Multi-List, Inc., the definitive source for real estate information for its 17-county service area – Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland counties. For more information, visit http://www.westpennmls.com/.