Which neighborhoods in Center City are the hottest right now?
Where are the hottest selling areas in Philadelphia right now?
Where are the hottest selling areas in Philadelphia right now?
According to the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach HomExpert Report for the first quarter, the Fairmount and Art Museum area tied with Rittenhouse Square for the most homes sold from January to March in 2014.
Both were dubbed by the real estate company as the "hottest neighborhoods in Center City" right now with 60 homes sold in the first three months of the year. Fairmount/Art Museum had a median home sale price of $332,400, while Rittenhouse had a median sale price of $475,750 – both at an increasing rate from last year.
In the previous three years, the Fairmount and Art Museum area had the most homes sold during the first quarter as well.
Mike McCann, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox & Roach said this is partly because the area is larger than most other Center City neighborhoods, and also because of the diverse crowd it draws.
"That area covers everything from first-time entry-level buyers to empty-nesters and everything in between," McCann said. "The resurgence of North Broad Street has expanded the area and has added a lot of developments."
Other Center City neighborhoods ranked in the top-5 are Northern Liberties and Fishtown (52 homes sold), Old City (33 homes sold), and Washington Square (23 homes sold).
The data from the report was pulled from MLS, and the areas in Philadelphia County were classified by Center City, Northeast, South, Northwest, North, Riverwards, West, and Southwest.
McCann says that despite the rankings, every neighborhood is experiencing a strong demand but with much less inventory accumulating over the years because of the "pent up demand" after the housing bubble.
"In every market place we have much less inventory and our days on the market are much less," McCann said. "The market is the strongest I've seen since 2007 and the inventory is the lowest I've seen in over 10 years."
The report found that the number of homes sold in Philadelphia decreased in the first quarter from last year, but the prices went up, which McCann attributes to the low inventory. These are the same overall findings for the 12 counties in the Greater Philadelphia region that were examined in the report. The extreme winter weather this year was cited in the study as another reason the home sales declined.
Overall, McCann said he believes the biggest neighborhood changes are occurring in Point Breeze, which mainly draws young professionals, singles and couples who are first-time buyers.
"There's more development there than any other neighborhood," he said. "Buyers are flocking to that area because of its proximity to Rittenhouse and Center City."
----------
Know of an interesting property in the Philadelphia or South Jersey region? E-mail us!