August 25, 2015
The Philadelphia-area housing market had its best spring since 2008, a Drexel University report found.
Both house prices and sales increased significantly in April, May and June. House values increased in almost every county in the 10-county region around Philadelphia, with Delaware County seeing the biggest gains at 9.9 percent.
In Philadelphia, the average increase in home values are 7.3 percent. Salem was the only county to see negative growth, with average home values dropping by 3.8 percent.
Philly.com noted, however, that Salem did not see a loss in median home values. Having a lower average but a higher median could imply that there are fewer extremely expensive properties but that midlevel homes are going up in value.
Home sales, especially sales of million-dollar-plus properties, were at their highest levels since 2008. There were 18,325 single-family homes sold, including 189 properties worth over a million dollars.
The report's author Kevin Gillen said that most indicators suggest the housing supply is tightening and prices will continue to go up. However, we'll need to wait for the next quarter's data in order to tell "whether these current conditions are simply a temporary singularity or will become an actual trend."
The housing bust caused Philadelphia-area homes to plummet 23 percent in value. Home prices have recovered less than half of the loss since the bubble burst, and would have to grow approximately 16 percent to reach pre-recession levels.
The report looked at single-family homes only, which do not include condos.
