What the Live MLS Shows Right Now
This snapshot is built differently than most consumer housing pages. Rather than lean on an automated valuation estimate, it draws directly on live inventory from the multiple listing service we work in every day. As of mid-2026, the MLS carried roughly 844 active or pending residential listings in Luzerne County at a median asking price of about ($255K), and roughly 56 in Lackawanna County at a median asking price of about ($240K). These are current asking prices across all listing brokerages in the market, not our office's inventory alone and not a national estimate.
A word on what these numbers are and are not. A median list price reflects what sellers are currently asking across active inventory. It is not the same as a median closed-sale price, which tends to run lower and lags by the time it takes deals to close. We lead with list-side inventory because it is the most current, most complete view of the market available, and because it is the number a buyer or seller is actually reacting to today.
Median List Price by Town, Luzerne County
A countywide median hides the single most important fact about this market; price depends heavily on which town you are looking in. The spread across Luzerne County is wide, from the low ($180Ks) in the City of Wilkes-Barre to the high ($390Ks) in Mountain Top. The table below shows median active list price for the county's deepest residential submarkets, those with enough active inventory to report a meaningful figure.
| Town / Area | Active listings | Median list price |
|---|---|---|
| Wilkes-Barre | 101 | $180,000 |
| Hazleton | 77 | $269,900 |
| Drums | 69 | $365,653 |
| Mountain Top | 56 | $399,900 |
| Dallas | 43 | $364,900 |
| Hazle Township | 35 | $315,000 |
| Nanticoke | 27 | $199,900 |
| Pittston | 26 | $219,500 |
| Harveys Lake | 24 | $309,900 |
| Freeland | 24 | $230,000 |
The pattern is clear once you see it laid out. The county's older urban cores, Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, and Pittston, offer the most affordable entry points, generally in the low ($180Ks) to mid ($220Ks) range. The Back Mountain and Mountain Top communities; Mountain Top, Dallas, Drums, and Harveys Lake, carry a premium into mid-to-high ($300K), reflecting newer housing stock, school districts, and lot sizes. For a buyer, the town you choose moves your budget more than almost any other single decision.
Residential Inventory by Price Band
Across all of Luzerne County, active residential inventory concentrates in the middle of the market. The largest bands are ($250K) to ($400K) (about 272 listings) and ($150K) to ($250K) (about 257 listings), which together make up nearly two-thirds of everything for sale. Entry-level product under ($150K) is a meaningful but shrinking slice at about 152 listings, and the upper end above ($600K) is thin at roughly 56 listings.
| Price band | Active listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $150,000 | 152 | 18% |
| $150,000 to $250,000 | 257 | 30% |
| $250,000 to $400,000 | 272 | 32% |
| $400,000 to $600,000 | 108 | 13% |
| Over $600,000 | 56 | 7% |
The Multi-Family and Rental Angle
For investors, the MLS also carries a distinct residential-income category, multi-family and small rental property. As of mid-2026 there were roughly 142 active residential-income listings in Luzerne County at a median asking price of about ($259.9K). That is a genuinely active small-multi market, the two-to-four unit buildings that make up the backbone of local rental ownership, and it prices very close to the single-family median, which is part of why NEPA works for buy-and-hold investors: the entry cost is low relative to the rents these units command.
The Longer-Run Price Trend
For price direction over time, the most authoritative public source is the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index, a repeat-sales index built from tens of millions of mortgage transactions. The FHFA county-level series for Luzerne and Lackawanna shows the steady, long-run appreciation that has characterized Northeastern Pennsylvania housing: consistent gains without the boom-and-bust swings seen in more speculative metros. FHFA labels its county-level annual indexes as developmental and publishes them as index values rather than dollar figures, and the county series lags the current quarter, so we treat it as a direction-of-travel indicator rather than a headline price. The through-line is consistent: NEPA housing has appreciated durably rather than dramatically.
That durability is the story worth telling buyers and investors. NEPA did not see the price spikes that priced families out of coastal and gateway markets, and it has not seen the sharp corrections either. For a buyer, that means affordability relative to income. For an owner, it means equity that builds steadily.
Why the Region Stays Affordable
The structural reason is the same one that drives the industrial market, being, cost. Home prices in both counties sit well below the national median existing-home price, which supports both owner-occupant affordability and investor cash flow. Pennsylvania statewide unemployment ran (4.2%) in December 2025, slightly below the national rate of (4.4%), and the regional job base, anchored by healthcare, logistics, and manufacturing, gives housing demand a stable floor.
For buyers relocating from higher-cost markets, the math is straightforward. A household priced out of the Philadelphia, New York, or New Jersey suburbs often finds that the same budget buys substantially more home here, with a shorter commute to major employment centers along the I-81 and I-476 corridors.
What This Means by Audience
For buyers
Inventory is real and workable but not unlimited, and well-priced homes in desirable submarkets still move quickly. Getting pre-approved before you shop matters more than it did a few years ago. Affordability relative to income remains a genuine advantage of this market.
For sellers
Pricing to the live market rather than to an automated estimate is what gets a home sold. The gap between asking and closing prices is where deals are won or lost, and local comps drawn from the MLS beat any national algorithm for setting that number correctly.
For investors
Prices below the national median paired with firm rents are what make NEPA residential income property pencil out. The same affordability that helps owner-occupants supports healthy cap rates for buy-and-hold investors, in-state and out-of-state alike.
Methodology and Sources
This snapshot compiles data from live multiple listing service inventory and publicly available government sources rather than a single proprietary automated-valuation database. Current active and pending listing counts and median list prices come from the multiple listing service we access directly as a member brokerage, measured across all listing offices in the market as of mid-2026. Long-run price-trend context comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index county-level series retrieved from Federal Reserve Economic Data. Employment and unemployment figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
- Multiple listing service active and pending residential inventory, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, retrieved mid-2026 (median list prices computed across all listing brokerages in the market)
- U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, All-Transactions House Price Index for Luzerne County (ATNHPIUS42079A) and Lackawanna County (ATNHPIUS42069A), retrieved from Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, national and Pennsylvania unemployment data (December 2025)
- Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Center for Workforce Information and Analysis
Talk to a Local Broker Who Knows This Market
Jonathan J. Nelson Real Estate works the Greater Pittston and NEPA market every day, residential, commercial, industrial, and land. If you are buying, selling, or investing, let's talk.
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