For the Love of Fairmount: All the Hype on CC’s Hottest Neighborhood

On Friday, our benevolent overlords at Berkshire Hathaway / Fox & Roach dropped the Q1 HomExpert Report, which contains a wealth of fiddly little facts about home sales within their markets. If you enjoy crunching numbers, it’s an interesting read. Of particular interest in the Center City section of the report is a lineup of the “hottest neighborhoods,” which is operationally defined as those areas where the most homes were sold.

Is that a water works by your parkway, or are you just happy to be the coolest neighborhood in Center City? Photo credit: Creative Commons

The tallies have been counted, and the Fairmount and Art Museum neighborhood tied with Rittenhouse Square for the most homes sold so far in 2014. That Rittenhouse Square topped the list is unextraordinary – I mean, c’mon, did you expect anything different? Center City’s grande dame has reigned for years, and she seems unlikely to relinquish the title any time soon. But Fairmount? The little nabe off the Parkway, stuffed with museums and tourists looking for the Rocky steps? Yep, we’re talking about the same one. It’s not actually surprising, either: the area has ruled the roost on the last three years’ Q1 reports.

Both Rittenhouse and Fairmount saw sixty home sales in the first quarter. At a rate of slightly less than two homes sold every three days, that is pretty impressive. Both neighborhoods also saw increases in average selling price: $334,400 for Fairmount, and $475,750 for Rittenhouse Square.

Rounding out the list of Center City’s top five hottest neighborhoods: NoLibs and Fishtown, with 53 houses sold, Old City (33), and Washington Square (23). The home sales figures were pulled from MLS data. It’s not easy to figure out the common denominator in these nabes’ popularity: high walking scores, proximity to employers/shopping/dining/green space, and ample character all make the Top 5 great places to live.

The fact that the winter was so lousy didn’t hurt Q1 home sales in the least. In fact, say some experts, it’s possible that the frigid temps and near-constant snowfall kept sellers sitting on fresh inventory until the thaw. As a result, homes for sale flooded the market with spring’s arrival, and erstwhile stir-crazy buyers turned out in force to take advantage. With both seasonal trends and a newly-invigorated real estate market favoring plenty of business, it remains to be seen whether 2014 will continue on as brisk a pace as January through March!