I've been curious how much different the average "days on market" is this year versus last year - so I looked into it. Here are some simple comparisons for key areas around the center of the county:

                      
Avg. Days on market             2006      2007

East Petersburg                      24           53      121% increase

East Hempfield                       67           63      6% decrease

Lancaster City                        46           50      9% increase

Lititz Borough                        42           72      71% increase

Manheim Twp                         55          57      4% increase

Warwick Twp                          40          46      15% increase

West Hempfield                      39          50      28% increase

West Lampeter Twp                60          89       48% increase

Our market area                        53          60       13% increase

So, it looks like the other locales in our market area (not reported here) are making things look better on average then they are in the "popular" locales - especially East Pete (my hometown!), Lititz and West Lampeter.  How to put this in perspective?  Well, a 33% increase would mean that a listing on for 2 months (60 days) last year will now be on for 3 months!  That's a BIG difference.  Some locales have much worse percentages than that.  The good news is that the area "in general" is seeing only a week or so longer listings than last year.  The moral?  Price your home competitively!  That's still the best way to get it sold in a reasonable amount of time.

I think I'll look into the number of price drops going on in Lancaster County next...stay tuned.

______________________________________________________________________

For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, PA Business Journal, WGAL Channel 8  and the Wall Street Journal.  His blog on Lancaster County is featured nationally.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs.