It’s not time to rejoice yet, but things just might be looking up for Pike County’s housing market.

That’s considering home sales for the start of this year, compared to last year’s beginning.

It’s not that Pike County realtors have sold more homes this year than last because they haven’t. Instead, those homes are selling for more.

“Our market is slightly stronger with respect to value,” said Adam Drinkwater, president of the Pike County Board of Realtors.

So far this quarter, realtors across Pike County have sold 20 homes compared to 23 counting the same period last year.

But, homes have sold for higher prices on average this year — an average that totals around $134,000 more per sale.

This year’s local selling average is around $159,000, up from last year’s $125,000, Drinkwater said.

“When you sell relatively the same number of units from year to year and increase in dollar amount, it likely means there’s an increase in home value,” Drinkwater said.

So selling close to the same number of homes year to year likely means that increase in home value has hit Pike County, the realtor said.

This year, most of the homes that have sold have been above $180,000, well above last year’s home selling average.

Drinkwater said it’s hard to tell what that is exactly, but he has a guess.

“If I had to speculate, I’d say the job market in Troy is better than it’s been,” he said.

“Along with your job market being better, it also means that people who are able to purchase are willing to buy, where last year maybe they were more cautious. Last year is when people started talking about the economy declining, so maybe people were waiting to see how that would unfold before making big purchases.”