The Hottest Suburban Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Bryn Mawr

A Main Line classic with more price points than you’d think.

Median home price: $601,400
Increase in median prices of properties sold (2011 to 2012): 12 percent
Residents with a B.A. or higher (2011): 70.7 percent

If you’re a family leaving the city because number two is on the way, but you’re loath to sacrifice your ability to walk to everything, from the train to your favorite cafe to a heap of shops, you might be lured by the siren song of gleaming Bryn Mawr. (The schools—lauded Lower Merion and Radnor Township districts, plus privates like Shipley and Baldwin—don’t hurt, either.)

In fact “walkability” is such a buzzword right now, says realtor Cathy Reimel Hamilton, that her company includes a “Walk Score” for every home it lists—and 19010 scores huge. She thinks that “live-ability” factor in particular is a big reason Bryn Mawr has been glowing with good real estate health over the past few years, with home sales and prices both on the rise—more so than anywhere else on the always-robust Main Line. Plus, she says, housing inventory is varied, so there are options for buyers looking at the more affordable housing in Garret Hill and near the Haverford border, and for those interested in the old stone manses dotting the pricier north side of the zip code.

Bryn Mawr: A Thriving Main Line ‘Hood

Over the past few years, Bryn Mawr Hospital has expanded into a behemoth of a medical community—and taken the town along with it. The brand-new Whitehall condominiums and townhomes, constructed within spitting distance of the hospital, sold out in about a second flat.

The Ludington Library reopened in September after a two-and-a-half-year makeover, complete with a daylight-flooded reading porch, to the delight of all Lower Merion residents.

A Bryn Mawr Farmers Market opened last spring—residents are almost as excited about that as they are the debut of the cult favorite Pinkberry, set to open next to Bertucci’s on Lancaster Avenue this spring.

Data derived from HomExpert Market Report, a product of Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors, Research Division.

Click here to see the story with Haddon Heights.