By Christina Kauffman, The York Dispatch, Pa.

Aug. 11--Two houses: They are real estate agent Patricia Carey's reason for optimism.

Carey, president of the Realtors Association of York & Adams Counties, said statistics the association released Monday show York's housing market is moving in a positive direction after several months of selling fewer homes and at lower prices.

Between June and July, the number of homes sold in York County increased by two, from 367 to 369 homes.

"We're creeping slowly in the right direction," she said. "And I emphasize 'creeping.' But I'll take any little positive change-of-flow in that positive direction."

But despite the small increase in the number of homes sold in both June and July, York has still sold fewer homes in 2009 when year-to-date figures are compared to 2008.

For the first seven months of the year 2,138 homes sold. That compares to 2,388 homes sold for the same period last year.

Carey said the decrease is expected, as the economy tanked and the housing market slowed across the nation.

The median sales price for homes is also lower for the first seven months of the year, with the median home selling for $159,900 this year, compared to $168,900 last year.

Despite the drop, the median sale price is actually $1,000 higher through July ($159,900) than it was through June ($158,900).

Market change: Carey said a federal tax incentive for first-time homebuyers is probably the largest driving factor behind the drop in median sales price.

First-time

homebuyers tend to buy homes in lower price ranges. In July, 68 percent of the homes sold in York County were priced under $200,000, she said.

Less noticeable -- but still a consideration -- are lower appraisals and sales prices in the higher-priced segments of the market, she said.

In January 2008, she sold a home to a couple for $290,000. The husband lost his job and the wife was transferred. When they sold the house later last year, they had to settle for $235,000, Carey said.

The drop reflects an "artificial high" in appraisals and sales prices during York County's housing boom, she said.

So while the number of homes sold might give Carey reason for hope, she said she's not yet confident enough to say York's housing market has finished the downward ride it started last year.

"I still don't feel that in my gut yet, that we're there," she said. "Maybe in another couple of months."

She said Realtors are hoping the federal government extends an $8,000 tax incentive for first-time homebuyers, who are currently driving the market. The break expires on Dec. 1.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.

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