Philadelphia Real Estate Home Prices on the Rise
The Philadelphia region was not hit as hard as most when it comes to foreclosures and falling home prices. Overall home values are down in this fluctuating economy but the upturn looks to be upon us. If you are a first time buyer, prices may never be lower in your lifetime and if you are getting ready to sell and move up- it may be a good time to get listed with an agent.
The Philadelphia Real Estate Market is on the Rise, So Now is the Time to Buy.
Larry Flick, CEO, of Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors in Philadelphia, recently commented about recent data coming in on home prices from the Case Shiller Housing Price Index which reported a very slight decrease in home prices for the last quarter, but a modest increase over the past year. The Case Shiller HPI tracks paired real estate sales in 20 major metropolitan areas but does not include Philadelphia. Flick points out that not only is Philadelphia not as negatively affected by the real estate slump, but the “slight decrease” in prices reported can be traced to the rush of sales around the deadline for the tax credits earlier this year and the following decrease. “While the home buyers’ tax incentives may have created some additional demand, what it really did was change the pattern of demand. Sales from later in the year were pulled backward into the spring. That helped firm up prices but also created the let down we saw during the summer. “
Flick goes on to quote Joel Naroff, a trusted real estate economist in saying “large parts of the country have already turned the corner and many are places that were not and will not be overwhelmed by the foreclosure crisis. While some of the largest areas are still weak and those areas dominate the data, the smaller and mid-sized metropolitan areas as well as some of the bigger ones (Philadelphia) will continue to get better slowly.”
According to Flick “the Philadelphia real estate market area has a low foreclosure rate and is not affected by the mortgage documentation issue that is slowing the foreclosure process in many areas.” Therefore it is not only trending better than most in regards to home prices reported by Case Shiller but can start to feel an increase in sales.
If buying a home is on your horizon: It may never be a better time than right now to buy a home with home prices starting a steady climb and interest rates as low as they have been in decades. On the other hand, if you are selling a home there is hope for higher prices and a more active market as data shows the worst is over for us in Philadelphia.
By Larry Flick, Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors
