PA: Real Estate Market Still Strong
A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that median home-sale prices posted double-digit gains last year in a eight-county region of Pennsylvania. Additionally, in 2005, the region-wide median price climbed 16 percent, to $206,000. The 2004 median, $177,500, had represented a 15 percent increase over the previous year.
Philadelphia’s 2005 median sale price of $120,000, represented a 32 percent increase over the 2004 median ($91,000) and was more than double the increases in most suburban counties. Many are pointing to the rapid revitalization of downtown Philadelphia as the reason why. Many parts of downtown Philadelphia and surrounding neighborhoods have experienced several successful loft conversions and new construction projects on long-vacant former industrial and government-owned property.
For the most part, while many experts believe that this regional market will experience a market correction in 2006, they do believe that it will weather it well.