While mid-6% mortgage interest rates and lower than average housing availability continue to highlight the current market, home prices are still on the rise both locally and across the country.

Pending homes sales decreased nationwide by 5.4% compared to last month, a .3% decrease from a year ago. Every region across the country experienced a decrease in pending home sales from May to June. In the Northeast, despite pending home sales decreasing by 3% from May to June, the region saw a 2.2% yearly gain from this time last year. Though pending sales are more of a prediction for future market impacts, it is a sign of a slight dropoff from the spring market.

“The highest mortgage rates in nearly a year and the record-high national median home sale price together are contributing to the tepid housing market that is especially difficult for first-time homebuyers.” National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said.

In Pennsylvania, home sales in May increased 4.9% with a median sale price of $320,000. Total sales decreased by 5% from last May. Statewide, the average home takes 4.46 months to sell, which indicates we’re still in a seller’s market. But higher-value homes still represent a buyer’s market. Homes priced at $875,000 and below took just under 6 months to sell, whereas homes listed between $1 million- $2 million took an average of 8.7 months and homes listed above $2 million took up to 15.9 months. Analysts predict an inventory accumulation of less than six months to represent a seller’s market and greater than six months to represent a buyer’s market.

After a late-spring surge, where the median sale price in Bucks County rose to $545,000 in May, an increase by over 8%, the median sale price fell to $530,000 in June, still a 2.9% increase from a year ago. Total home sales in Bucks County increased by 16.5% from last June, with a home lasting an average of 20 days on the market, an increase by one day from last June but a decrease from last month. Montgomery County had a median sale price of $516,500, and homes spent an average of 19 days on the market.

The six-month median sale price continues to climb in Doylestown Township (6.1%), Warminster(5.9%), and Abington (5.4%), while Newtown Township (-3.6%), Plymouth (-4.9%), and Horsham (-9.1%) experienced decreases from the six-month average at the end of last year. Though the local markets fluctuate in price gains, homes still sell much faster than the state and national averages, indicating a strong seller’s market overall. Since last year, the trends are beginning to move in the direction of the buyer, but only slightly. Newtown (1.7), Warminster (2.2), Horsham (2.3), Abington (2.8), and Plymouth (3.7) all increased in inventory accumulation from last June, with Doylestown (1.6) the only market in the sample to decrease from the same time a year ago.