Continuing a steady recovery, pending home sales here last month rose 22.6 percent, a new report shows.

The upturn made January the eighth month in the previous nine to show improvement, the Lancaster County Association of Realtors said Friday.

According to LCAR, 353 homes went under contract last month, compared to 288 homes in January 2011.

It was the highest tally for that month since January 2008.

But the mark remained significantly below January 2007 and January 2006, when the economy — and the real estate market — were booming.

Last month's surge was broad-based, the LCAR figures show, with all five price categories posting double-digit increases.

Quentin Miller, LCAR president, said the positive sales figures of January were rooted in significantly more showings in November and December.

"That's what it starts with," he said, "and it translates into what you see for January."

Miller, a partner in Coldwell Banker Select Professionals, went on:

"Will that carry through to the end of the year? I hope so, but I'm not making that prediction."

Taking a closer look at how the market's categories performed in January, all notched gains of at least 13.9 percent.

Pending sales of homes priced up to $100,000 grew 34.4 percent, to 82 homes placed under contract, reported LCAR.

For homes priced from $100,001 to $200,000, the largest category by far, pending sales increased that 13.9 percent to 172 homes.

Pending sales of homes priced from $200,001 to $300,000 jumped 26.4 percent to 67 homes.

Among homes priced from $300,001 to $400,000, pending sales went up by almost the same proportion, 26.6 percent, to 19 homes.

Pending sales of homes priced at $400,001 and up leaped 62.5 percent, to 13 homes. But as the smallest category, this price range is prone to big swings.

Realtors consider pending sales the most current indicator of market activity.

Most, but not all, pending sales typically go to settlement and become finalized in 30 to 60 days.

Settled sales also saw an uptick in January, LCAR said.

They increased 7.3 percent to 234 homes from January 2011's 218, but stayed well below their glory days.

The most settled sales recorded here during any January occurred in January 2005, at 575.

As pending and settled sales rose last month, so did the average sales price of the homes that were settled.

The average sales price of settled homes in January was $175,400, up 0.5 percent from $174,600 a year earlier.

Though the amount was slight, the direction was noteworthy.

The last time the average sales price improved over its year-earlier counterpart was in November 2010.

The price performance was not all positive, however.

January 2012's average sales price still fell short of the five-year average for the month, $178,600.

And, if measured by median rather than average, the typical sales price actually decreased.

The median sales price was $158,000, a drop of 5.6 percent from January 2011's $167,300.

The median is the point where half the properties sold for more and half sold for less.

tmekeel@lnpnews.com