Lehigh Valley Real Estate
How to Read a Real Estate Market Report
The five metrics that actually matter — and what the Lehigh Valley data is telling you right now.
CT
Chris Troxell Team
The five metrics that actually matter — and what the Lehigh Valley data is telling you right now.
Real estate market reports are full of numbers that most buyers and sellers glance at without really understanding what they mean. This guide explains the five metrics that actually matter: median vs. average price, days on market, months of supply, list-to-sale price ratio, and pending vs. closed sales. Each one is explained plainly, with a note on what it means specifically for buyers and sellers. Then the guide applies all five to current Lehigh Valley and Berks County data so you can see what the numbers are actually saying about this market right now.
Every month, the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors publishes a market report. So do Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com and half a dozen other platforms. They all cover the same market and they sometimes show different numbers. Most buyers and sellers glance at the headline figure and move on without being quite sure what they just read.
That is a shame, because the data in a well-read market report is genuinely useful. It tells you whether you have negotiating leverage or not. It tells you how fast you need to move. It tells you whether the headline you read last week about rising prices is actually relevant to the specific neighborhood you are shopping in. None of it requires a statistics background. You just need to know which five numbers to focus on and what each one actually means.
Most reports lead with a price figure. Sometimes it is the median sale price. Sometimes it is the average. They are not the same thing and they can tell very different stories about the same market.
The middle value in a list of sale prices sorted lowest to highest. Half the homes sold for more, half for less. It is not thrown off by a single unusually expensive sale or a handful of distressed properties. Generally the more useful number for understanding where the market sits for a typical buyer.
The total of all sale prices divided by the number of sales. One sale at three times the typical market price can pull the average up meaningfully without changing the experience of most buyers or sellers at all. More useful for overall dollar volume than for what you will actually pay.
In practice: trust the median for a sense of where prices are. Use the average as a secondary check. When the two numbers diverge significantly, it usually means there have been some outlier sales on one end or the other, and the median is still the better guide for typical transactions.
The Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors reported a regional median sale price of $375,000 in May 2026, up 8.7% year over year. That median tells you what the typical completed sale looked like. It does not tell you what a specific home in a specific neighborhood will cost, which is where the next metrics become important.
Days on market, usually abbreviated as DOM, measures how long a home was listed before going under contract. It is one of the fastest reads on whether a specific listing is in demand or not.
Fast. Buyers are competing and the seller has leverage. Contingent offers, long inspections or below-ask prices are less likely to win.
Balanced. Matching the typical pace. Both buyers and sellers have reasonable room to negotiate within this window.
A signal worth attention. The home may be priced above market, have a condition issue, or sit in genuinely weaker demand. Room to negotiate.
One thing to know: sellers can reset the DOM clock by taking the home off the market for 30 to 90 days and relisting it. A listing that has just been relisted may still have a history of sitting that a savvy buyer's agent will find. Always ask how long the property has actually been available, not just how long the current listing has been active.
In Lehigh County, homes have been averaging around 9 days on market through mid-2026. That is a fast market. In Hellertown and Emmaus, the median is around 10 days. In the more suburban corridors like Upper Macungie and Center Valley, it stretches to 14 to 30 days. Nationally, the median DOM in June 2026 was 43 days. The Lehigh Valley is running at roughly a third of the national pace.
Months of supply, also called months of inventory, answers one specific question: at the current pace of sales, how long would it take to sell everything currently listed?
It is calculated by dividing the number of active listings by the number of homes sold per month. A market with 600 active listings and 200 sales per month has three months of supply. One with 600 listings and 50 sales per month has 12 months of supply.
< 3 Months
Strong seller's market. Sellers have pricing power, faster sales, stronger offers. Buyers have less room and need to move quickly.
3–6 Months
Balanced market. Neither side holds a clear advantage, and negotiations tend to settle near asking price.
> 6 Months
Buyer's market. Sellers need competitive pricing and concessions. Buyers can take their time and negotiate.
The GLVR reported 693 active units across Lehigh and Northampton counties as of spring 2026, down 7.7% year over year. With roughly 500 to 600 closed sales per month across both counties, that works out to around 1.1 to 1.4 months of supply. Nationally, months of supply was around 4.6 in mid-2026. The Lehigh Valley is running at roughly a quarter of the national inventory level. This is why Lehigh Valley homes move faster and generate more multiple-offer situations than the national data would suggest.
The list-to-sale price ratio, sometimes called the sale-to-list ratio, compares the price a home was listed at to the price it actually sold for. It is expressed as a percentage.
> 100%
Selling above asking. Competition is strong and buyers need to come in at or above list to be competitive.
100%
Selling right at asking price. A balanced meeting point between what sellers hope for and buyers will pay.
< 100%
Sellers accepting less than asked. Signals that buyers have some negotiating room in that market.
One nuance worth understanding: the ratio can be calculated using either the original list price or the final list price after any reductions. If a seller originally listed at $400,000, reduced to $375,000 and sold at $380,000, the ratio against the final list price looks like 101.3%, which suggests strong demand. Against the original list price it is 95%, which tells a very different story about the property's reception in the market. When you see a report quoting this metric, check which basis it uses.
The GLVR reported sellers receiving an average of 101.4% of list price as of spring 2026. Well-priced homes in desirable neighborhoods are still going above asking. Listings that have sat and taken price reductions are pulling the average down. The practical read: if you see a home that is priced right and is fresh to the market in a competitive neighborhood, expect to compete at or above the asking price. If a home has been sitting for 30-plus days, there is room to negotiate.
Closed sales tell you what happened in the past. Pending sales tell you what is happening right now.
A pending sale is a home that has an accepted offer but has not yet closed. Typical closings take 30 to 45 days from offer acceptance, so pending sales this month will show up as closed sales next month or the month after. This is the metric that makes market reports genuinely forward-looking rather than just historical.
When pending sales are rising, buyer demand is increasing and prices are likely to follow. When pending sales are falling, it is usually an early signal that the market is cooling before the closed-sale data catches up. Media coverage almost always focuses on closed sales; tracking pendings means working with more timely information.
The GLVR June 2026 report showed pending sales up 4.3% year over year, alongside new listings up 11%. Rising new listings is a good sign for buyers, as it adds supply. Rising pending sales alongside that suggests demand is absorbing the new supply rather than building up inventory. The net effect is a market that is active but not as squeezed as 2021 and 2022, with slightly more options and slightly more time to decide.
Putting all five metrics together gives a clear picture of where the Lehigh Valley market sits in September 2026.
| Metric | Lehigh Valley (2026) | National Benchmark | What It Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $375,000 (up 8.7% YoY) | Varies widely | Still appreciating; above national avg for mid-size metros |
| Days on market | 9 days (Lehigh County avg) | 43 days nationally | Very fast; buyers must move quickly on good listings |
| Months of supply | ~1.1 to 1.4 months | 4.6 months nationally | Heavily seller-favored; strong competition for listings |
| List-to-sale ratio | 101.4% of list price | ~99% nationally | Sellers have leverage; well-priced homes go above ask |
| Pending sales trend | Up 4.3% YoY | Mixed nationally | Demand is absorbing new supply; market staying active |
The Lehigh Valley is running significantly hotter than the national market by almost every measure. That is good news for sellers and a reason for buyers to be prepared rather than casual. The market is not as frantic as 2021, but it is not the buyer-friendly environment you might read about in national headlines either. Local data and national data are telling different stories, and the local data is the one that matters for your decision.
The next time you see a market report, whether it is from the GLVR, Redfin or Zillow, run through these five questions.
1
Median is more reliable for understanding the typical transaction.
2
Under 14 days is fast. Over 30 means there may be room to negotiate.
3
Under 3 is a seller's market. Over 6 is a buyer's market. 1 to 1.5, as the Lehigh Valley is running, is heavily seller-favored.
4
Above means sellers have leverage and homes are going above asking. Below means buyers have room.
5
Rising pendings signal an active market that will show up in closed-sale data next month. Falling pendings are an early warning of a slowdown.
Always check the geography. A Lehigh Valley-wide number tells you something very different from a neighborhood-level number. The metric that matters for your specific situation is always the most local one you can find.
The Lehigh Valley median of $375,000 includes properties ranging from Allentown row homes in the $200,000s to Center Valley estate properties above $1 million. Always check the geography.
Understanding the regional numbers is useful context. What matters more for your specific situation is the neighborhood-level data for the area you are actually buying or selling in. The Chris Troxell Team tracks current market metrics across every Lehigh Valley and Berks County submarket and can give you a precise read on what the numbers look like for your specific neighborhood and price point.