Home sales here kept falling in November while home prices kept climbing, the Lancaster County Association of Realtors reported Friday.

LCAR said 398 homes were sold here last month, down 15.3 percent from 470 homes sold in November 2006.

The November tally also was well below the average volume for the past five Novembers, 469.

Last month's performance pulled home sales for the year down 9.8 percent to 5,019, versus 5,563 homes sold in the opening 11 months of last year.

LCAR president Rich Heslin, in a prepared statement, noted that November's deals generally were the result of sales agreements reached in the summer, when the mortgage industry's problems peaked.

"Today's lower interest rates and greater availability of mortgage products will help improve the level of sales as we move into 2008," said Heslin.

Besides a drop in sales, new residential listings dipped 6.3 percent to 564 from November 2006's 602.

Though sales volume and new listings ebbed, prices shot ever higher, sustaining that trend too, the report showed.

The average selling price was $195,000, the highest ever for any November, and up 3.1 percent from last year's $189,000.

Measured another way, the average selling price last month stood 67.6 percent ahead of the average price recorded 10 years earlier — $116,000.

The year-to-date average selling price also was $195,000, 4.3 percent ahead of the $187,000 average in the period last year.

CONTACT US: tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030