Town By Town: A haven unshaken by real estate slump

One in a continuing series spotlighting real estate markets in the region's communities.

East Bradford Township is "one of the most desirable places to live in Chester County," says Kit Anstey, of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors.

He should know: It has been his home for 40 years.

To be honest, Anstey's connections here go back three years more, to 1972, "when I joined the Radley Run Country Club."

He has owned two houses in his time in East Bradford, which is west of West Chester but east of West Bradford Township.

The first, and most memorable, was a house on the Radley Run golf course he bought from Roman Gabriel, then quarterback for the Eagles.

"I got to hang out with him and met a lot of others associated with the team," including Leonard Tose, then the Eagles' owner, says Anstey.

He sold that house, moved away briefly, then bought the house next door in 1978.

Weichert Realtors agent Michael Elia describes East Bradford's real estate market as a "healthy one," with an absorption rate of 2.3 months.

"There are 26 houses for sale in the township in all categories," condos, townhouses, and single-family detached, says Elia, of Weichert's West Chester office, "and there have been 68 sales in the last six months."

Average price for all categories is $445,000, Elia says, with sales in 2014 up 46 percent from 2011 and a "modest 4.2 percent increase" in prices for the same period.

During the boom years, price increases here were more of a hiccup, Elia says, a characteristic East Bradford shared with the eight-county Philadelphia region.

When prices fell after the housing bubble burst in the third quarter of 2007, it was only by 4 percent or 5 percent.

Anstey emphasizes that East Bradford has "a diverse inventory" of housing that makes it attractive to buyers in a variety of income brackets.

For example, Terraces of Windon has townhouses ranging in price from $200,000 to $330,000, he says, and there are condos for sale at Bradford Square, near the West Chester Borough border, for under $200,000.

There also are many estate homes in the township, which has areas with two-acre zoning, Anstey says. Toll Bros. built two large communities over the years, Brandywine River Estates and Marshallton Chase.

"One thing that put East Bradford on the map was the Moors at Radley Run in the middle-1980s," Anstey says. The Highlands at Radley Run followed, whose homes, when built, sold in the $450,000- to-$600,000 range, he adds.

In the late 1990s, Bentley Homes built a townhouse community, Sagamore, with one- to two-car garages and a minimum of three bedrooms, priced from the $200,000s to the mid-$300,000s.

Bentley is now building large estate homes at the Sussex development for $1 million-plus.

Though East Bradford "has a couple of $2 million homes," the average resale in Radley Run is between $600,000 and $700,000, Anstey says.

These days, construction is limited to single-family detached-home projects of five units or fewer, Elia says, "if these smaller developers can find older parcels with the right zoning."

Since the housing boom ended, many builders don't want to spend the money on large parcels, he notes.

Sale prices for single-family homes today are averaging $562,000, he says.

Township taxes are comparatively lower than in other communities. When asked why, Anstey says he can't give a reason.

"I pay $4,000 a year for mine, which is pretty much the standard for estate homes between $400,000 and $600,000 here," he says.

As is the case in many towns in the Philadelphia suburbs, there are efforts to limit development and preserve open space in East Bradford. A few years back, the township acquired the Schramm Estate on Sconnelltown Road for a walking trail and open space.

Now, East Bradford and some residents are interested in buying one of Anstey's listings, a former scrapple factory on Lenape Road across from historic Strode's Mill, priced at $250,000.

"There is the building, which is pretty rundown, and a separate building lot behind it, and the township would prefer not to have a house built on the lot," he says.

The value placed on the West Chester Area School District is high, Elia says, and lures prospective buyers to East Bradford. Proximity to West Chester - a five-minute bike ride away, he says - is another big draw.

The real estate downturn was not as hard on East Bradford as some other communities, Anstey and Elia say.

There were few foreclosures here - Chester County had only 206 properties in that category in the first quarter of 2015 - and Elia says that the flow of relocating employees for local companies was not interrupted by the economic upheaval.

In addition, the township has been able to retain its rural character and its sense of history.

"When my son, Mike, was in fifth grade, I tagged along on class tours given by his history teacher," Elia says. "It was always fascinating."

East Bradford By the Numbers

Population: 9,942 (2010).

Median household income: $100,732 (2014).

Area: 15.1 square miles.

Settlements in the last three months: 26.

Homes for sale: 26.

Average days on market: 94.

Median price: $351,450.

Housing units: 3,150; condos, townhouses, and single-family detached.

School district: West Chester Area.

SOURCES: U.S. Census Bureau; City-Data.com; Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach HomExpert Market Report; Michael Elia, Weichert Realtors

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