Philadelphia, Main Line Townships Market Report

Philadelphia Main Line Townships Market Report

Over the last five quarters we have been tracking the price per square foot in several different Philadelphia Main Line Townships for single family homes that have settled in that quarter. As you can see the information below shows those townships where prices are rising, Radnor, Charlestown and Willistown, and those where prices have fallen or been steady.

Obviously the biggest increase recently is Radnor, with prices increasing by almost 4%. Generally the last quarter also saw a large increase in sales in each township over previous quarters and the low interest rates may have caused this plus the spring market is generally the most active with these settlements filtering through in this quarter.Willistown is really the only township over the five quarters where prices today are higher than they were, all the others have suffered price depreciation although several are recovering. Generally I like price per square foot values as they don't get skewed like median home price by one or two large home sales. Some townships are more volatile because they have fewer settlements, like Charlestown and Willistown, but generally it is a reliable indicator of the market in that township. Obviously all real estate is local as we have said many times, some developments and neighborhoods can buck the trend of the township, so you really need to do a drilled down analysis for your particular area.

I don't know how my analysis compares with Zillow or other sites showing estimates of value, but it is one way we use to get an indication of value for a listing appointment, although we look at much more local data than a whole township and consider all the upgrades a homeowner has carried out.