Movin’ On Up Just Got A Little Harder Hereabouts, According to Zillow
The number of high-end homes on the market in the Philadelphia area rose over the last year while inventory in the bottom and middle fell. If it’s any comfort, the most expensive homes are also the most likely to experience price cuts, according to Zillow. Photo: David Baron | Flickr
Those Millennials flocking here from New York in search of affordable starter homes may find themselves waiting a little longer to get one now.
Figures for Philadelphia released by Zillow.com Thursday in conjunction with its Real Estate Market Report for the first quarter of 2016 show that house values rose across the board in Philadelphia, but they rose faster at the bottom than at the top of the market, and they rose even faster in the middle, while inventory of all but the most expensive houses shrank.
The market segments by the numbers:
The median value of an entry-level home — a home whose price puts it in the bottom third of the market — rose 0.9 percent from one year ago, to $102,900. Homes on the market in this price range fell 2.0 percent from year-ago levels.
The median value of a mid-level home — one priced in the middle third — rose the most: it climbed 1.9 percent to $204,000. The inventory of middle-tier homes also shrank the most, dropping 6.4 percent over the past year.
The median price of a home in the top third of the market rose 1.3 percent, to $368,400, even though inventory at this level rose 0.5 percent from last year.
Compared to buyers nationwide as a whole, however, entry-level and mid-level home buyers will have better luck finding a home that suits them in Philadelphia: inventory of homes in both market segments fell 10.4 percent nationwide from this time last year, compared to a mere 1.9 percent drop in the top segment and 5.9 percent overall. And they won’t have to shell out as much as they would in many other markets: the rise in house values in Philadelphia is well below the 4.8 percent rise for the nation as a whole. The region is one of only 10 of the 35 largest real estate markets in the nation for which this was the case.
