Philadelphia Housing Index 2013 Q3: City Housing Prices Flat During Third Quarter: Strong Neighborhood Markets Offset Weaker Neighborhoods

City Housing Prices Flat During Third Quarter: Strong Neighborhood Markets Offset Weaker Neighborhoods

Our index shows that housing prices in Philadelphia were stagnant in the third quarter. This masks significant variations across different sections of the city; prices in the North and Northeast were flat or showed modest declines while certain areas continue their recently strong rebound. These include the River Wards (Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond), areas immediately North (Fairmount, Northern Liberties, and East and West Poplar) and South (Point Breeze, East Passyunk, and Pennsport) of Center City, and University City.

However, year-to-date our index shows that housing prices have increased by 2.9%. Another indication of Philadelphia’s housing market rebound, is that sales of $1M plus homes has returned to pre-recession levels.

Philadelphia housing markets were unchanged over the summer. Quality-adjusted prices of single-family houses in Philadelphia decreased by an average of 0.5 percent this quarter and are up 2.9 percent from a year ago. This stall is a continuation of relatively flat, albeit uneven, growth over the past few years.

Overall, there were 3,728 arms-length sales of single family homes this quarter, which is up 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, and 14 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Median price per square foot was $98. There were 512 sales in the most expensive category with prices over $200 per square foot, and 525 in the least expensive category of $25 per square foot or less.

Volume of home sales was up slightly this quarter (to 3,728 from 3,715 last quarter), but is up 14 percent from the previous summer. The number of home sales with values of more than $1 million was also higher this quarter than the last quarter (27 compared to 23).

The median sale price of $129,500 represents a 3.6 percent increase over the previous quarter, and is up 1.4 percent over the same quarter one year ago. Unlike the index value, the median price is not quality or seasonally adjusted.

Analysis at the District level provides a refined view of housing market trends. Here, these trends are aggregated into Subregions to summarize broader market trends.

House prices in the South Subregion continued their positive trend, growing 4.9 percent this quarterand 14. percent for the year. The Lower North/River Subregion posted significant gains, up 6.1 percent this quarter. The North Subregion saw the largest price drops, with a decline of 1.1 percent for the quarter and 6.7 percent for the year.

Download the full report in PDF format here….

Source: Econsult