According to a recent report by the Lancaster County Association of Realtors® (LCAR), 317 homes sold in January, a 1.9 percent increase from the 311 homes that sold in January of 2006. The five-year average of homes sold in January is 380. The $188,159 average sale price for January is a 0.1 percent decrease from the January 2006 price tag of $188,358. The five year average sale price for the month of January is $164,895. Ten years ago in January of 1997, the average sale price of a home in Lancaster County was $118,333. New residential listings for January increased 9.5 percent from 719 units in 2006 to 787 units in 2007. The average number of new listings for the month of January over the last five years is 645. “For the past two years when comparing the current month’s sales to the same month one year earlier, we’ve been primarily posting decreases,” said LCAR president, Rich Heslin. “It’s great to start off the new year with a gain over the January 2006 sales figure. The national forecast shows a gradual rise of home sales this year and into 2008.”