Are you searching for your dream house in Philadelphia and want to know about the real estate market? This guide is your one-stop destination for all the latest real estate stats Philly and the amount of money you can expect to dish out for the best homes.
Best Neighborhoods in Philly
The first thing that you need to consider before buying your dream house is its location. Even a condo would look out of place if it’s located beside a slum. But fortunately, Philly has some incredible neighborhoods that give you enough options to choose a house. Here are the best neighborhoods that you should target:
Manayunk
Society Hill, Old City, and Queen Village
Mount Airy University City/Chestnut Hill
Rittenhouse Square
Consider yourself lucky if you manage to find a house in one of these neighborhoods. The real estate market never seems to take a dip in these areas making them ever popular with the serious Philly home investor.
School districts in Philly
In addition to a good neighborhood, you should also keep the school’s distance from your house in mind. You wouldn’t want to drive your kid for two hours every day to reach school. Your ideal home should be in a place that’s in a good neighborhood and close to one of the school districts. Following are some of the school districts that residents consider as the best:
- Radnor Township School District
- Tredyffrin-Easttown School District
- Lower Merion School District
- Wallingford-Swarthmore School District
- Garnet Valley School District
Moving to a new house may not seem challenging if you can enroll your kid in one of the schools in these districts.
Real estate in Philly
Philadelphia has a mixture of renter-occupied and owner-occupied houses. According to neighborhoodscout.com, a real estate stats Philly provider, row houses and three and four-bedroom homes are the most common in the city. Some of the other houses that you may look into are single-family detached homes, large apartment complexes, homes converted into apartments, and duplexes.
Single-family homes alone account for almost 8% of the houses in Philadelphia. In fact, there has been a 30% increase in the number of single-family rental homes at a national level in the last 3 years. Experts believe prices for homes will remain high in 2020 because of a greater increased demand than supply.
There are a total of 5550 homes available for sale in Philadelphia. For those who want to stay in rented houses, you have 5003 homes to choose from. The real estate stats Philly further reveal that there are 3422 pre-foreclosure and 110 foreclosed homes. These properties are still delinquent and will soon come into the market. It means the real estate market may ease up for many who are looking to pay cash to buy their dream house.
According to the statistics from April 2020, 530 new homes got listed on real estate websites. The sale to asking price ratio in Philly is approximately 90%. There are, however, a few factors that both buyers and sellers need to consider, such as the size of the house, the neighborhood, vicinity from shopping malls, schools, and churches, and local transport connectivity.
Philly was a buyer’s market even a few years. This meant that buyers could dictate the price as the real estate market wasn’t one of the best in the country. But now, the tables have turned. Sellers now have an upper hand and they usually sell homes at 98.41% of the asking price. Although a seller would want a ratio of 100% or more, that’s not the case in Philly.
Key market stats
Let’s take a closer look at some of the crucial real estate stats for the Philly home investor that will help you decide when and where to buy your house.
- As per the latest reports from Zillow, the median listing price of any house in Philly is $234,900. The amount is still lower compared to some of the other states in the US.
- There is a difference in the per-square-foot listing price of homes in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metro area and Philadelphia. The former has a price of $151 while the latter sits at $180.
- The Home Value Index suggests that Philly saw a 5.4% rise in home value last year. In fact, the real estate market soared by almost 43% since December 2012. This is one of the highest jumps in any state in the US.
- The median selling price of single-family homes is $188,300. Again, you need to consider the neighborhood and the school district before judging the median selling price. If you want to live in the outskirts, you may not have to pay such a huge amount to any seller or real estate company.
- There is a 13.3% negative equity of homes in Philadelphia. This is quite high if you compare the average of the country which is 8.2%.
- Hartranft, West Kensington, and East Kensington are three of the most expensive neighborhoods. These areas record the highest median home index value every year. You may have to save significantly if you want to buy a house in one of these neighborhoods.
- But if you don’t have enough cash, you can look for homes in Upper Kensington, Fairhill, and Glenwood. These neighborhoods are slightly distant from the heart of the city and therefore, the homes don’t cost as high as the ones in the neighborhoods mentioned above.
Factors driving real estate market in Philly
- Density offers opportunity – The dense population in Philly is giving opportunities to both buyers and sellers to work out deals according to their budget. Many sellers are converting their age-old property into multi-family housing apartments to make money. If you are short of cash, you can buy an apartment instead of an entire house.
- Real estate is historically affordable – The real estate market is historically affordable in Philly. This means the median price of houses is still lower than the other states in the US.
Now that you know the crucial statistics of the real estate market of Philadelphia, save up and buy the house you like.
