Philly area’s housing market is ‘weird’ right now, agents say

Brenda Beiser knows firsthand how difficult buying a home in the Philadelphia area can be. She’s not only a Redfin real estate agent, but she’s also an empty nester who wanted to downsize.

Her six-bedroom house in Mount Airy sold right away when she put it on the market in May. But she decided not to buy a replacement.

“I went for a rental because I didn’t really want to compete with everyone who’s trying to get into a smaller house,” Beiser said. “A lot of people who are in their 60s and would have traditionally downsized into a smaller house just aren’t doing it. They can’t find a place to go.”

The Philadelphia region has a housing supply problem, just like large swaths of the country, and that’s impeding both repeat and first-time buyers. Inventory is particularly low across the Northeastern United States, where construction has not kept up with demand. In the beginning of this year, Zillow predicted that the Philadelphia metropolitan area would be one of the country’s 10 most-competitive housing markets of 2026.

But home supply has ticked up a bit in the region compared to last year, and homes are staying on the market a bit longer before they sell. For the four weeks ending June 21, the region was in the top five markets with the highest annual increase in new home listings, according to a Redfin analysis of the 50 most-populous metropolitan areas.

“The market’s encouraging,” said Jake Markovitz, president of the board of directors for the Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors. “It’s certainly more balanced than it has been the last four, five years.”

Erin Thompson, CEO of the Montgomeryville office with Keller Williams and leader of the Erin Thompson Team, agrees. She said buying and selling is “ebbing and flowing but trending toward a more stabilized market.”

“Although I feel like I’ve said that twice in the recent past, and then it’s gone bonkers,” she said.

The region’s market is a mixed bag.

Some homes are sitting for a while, and some owners are at risk of selling properties for less than they bought them for a few years ago. Other homes have inspired five or more buyers to compete against each other, hiking up prices, said Markovitz, an associate broker with the Karrie Gavin Group at Elfant Wissahickon Realtors.

“As an example, I’m seeing more inventory in Chestnut Hill than I have in a long time, which is giving buyers a little bit of power,” he said. But if the right property hits the market, it will go fast.

He’s seen the same happen in neighborhoods such as Graduate Hospital and Fishtown.

Because of strong demand for homes in the region, “I just don’t think we’ll see any major shift in prices coming down,” he said.

Markovitz and Thompson both used the same word to describe the recent real estate market: weird.

They said housing activity isn’t always following time-tested rules.

Philadelphia homes that sat on the market for months last fall, typically a busy season, suddenly went under contract in the winter, typically a slow one.

A house that sits on the market for 30 days that a buyer thinks can be theirs at a lower price can suddenly attract two other buyers at the same time. And now they all need to be ready to pay more.

Housing markets have always been hyperlocal, with buyer demand varying from neighborhood to neighborhood and block to block. But now, “it’s almost like a property-by-property basis,” even for comparable homes, Thompson said.

Even with recent upticks in home listings, the region’s housing supply is nowhere near enough to meet demand.

“Most people are anticipating this year will continue to be a little tough,” Thompson said, “and then next year we’ll start to see some more inventory.”

Markovitz said homeowners who bought properties five years ago with 3% or 4% mortgage interest rates are still experiencing “some sticker shock” from current rates, which lately have been averaging about 6.5% for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.

“Those people, even if they’re ready to leave, are kind of bound by their golden handcuffs,” not wanting to sell and then have to buy a home at a higher interest rate, he said.

But for many homeowners, “the reality of the market has set in a little bit,” he said. “Where people were sort of hoping, wishing that rates would come back down, they’re not.” And life events such as births, deaths, and job moves mean that people need to sell their homes.

And buyers show up to purchase them.

Thompson said she was nervous when she listed a Phoenixville home for sale during Memorial Day weekend, when many homebuyers might be traveling. But a lot of people came to see it, and the seller ended up with seven offers and a final price that was well over what they expected.

But buyers aren’t accepting just anything. They are less likely than in past years to skip home inspections and are more selective. If sellers want to get the highest price, they have to prepare their properties for sale, agents said.

Homes, and especially kitchens and bathrooms, need to be up-to-date, and central air-conditioning is a plus, said Annette Collier, owner and real estate broker at Able Real Estate, based in West Philadelphia.

“That’s what buyers are looking for, and I don’t think they’re willing to settle,” said Collier, who works in the city and surrounding areas. “I find that less buyers want to do any renovations. Most buyers want a move-in ready situation.”

And sellers need to be realistic about how much they can get for their home.

“If you overprice by even just a little bit,” Thompson said, “you’ll end up sitting.”

Generally speaking, buyers now have more time to make decisions than they did last year, since homes are staying on the market longer.

But in some submarkets, especially in Philadelphia’s collar counties, “there’s so much demand that certain houses are just going to fly off the shelves,” said Beiser, who works in Philadelphia and surrounding areas.

“I have some buyers in the suburbs, and they‘ve kind of stopped looking because it’s too challenging,” she said.

Beiser has been working with a couple with children who live in Philadelphia but want to move to the suburbs. Each spring for the last three years, her clients make a plan to try to find their next home. But every year, they decide that continuing to live in the city is more convenient than facing competitive markets in which they’re expected to skip home inspections to win a property, Beiser said.

Thompson has seen a growing trend of frustrated buyers putting in offers above the asking price even when they’re not facing direct competition. One client recently went under contract on a Fishtown home they had immediately put an offer on.

“They came in aggressive, because they’d just lost out on a house, and they’d been looking for a while,” she said. “You have these buyers who are scarred and tired, so they’re coming in more aggressive.”

Thompson tells buyers to make sure they’re as prepared as possible before starting their home search.

“You have to be ready to pounce the second [a home] comes to the market,” she said.