The Pew report showed that home sales in Philadelphia increased for the sixth consecutive year, and reached a number just short of its all-time record in 2017.
The study also indicates that the construction industry is booming in this Pennsylvania urban center. Residential building permits hit over 3,000 for the fourth consecutive year in a row. In 2017, the city issued 3,389 building permits, which was just 15% off of its peak in 2014.
Home sales in Philadelphia also increased.
Why this is important comes in the way of the potential spillover effect upon values for those counties in New Jersey adjacent to Philadelphia, as was the case in New York City.
Burlington County, which is adjacent to Philadelphia has seen a year where the median price sales increased 7.7% in the past year. In addition, the percent of list price received has gone up from 96.7% to 98% and inventory has fallen from 2,300 to 1,800. Additionally, the months-supply-of-inventory from 2017 to 2018 has fallen 31% from 5.8 months to 4.0 months.
Another potential strong market that is close to Philadelphia is Cherry Hill. According to Zillow, the median home value in Cherry Hill has gone up 5.4% over the past year to $259,477. Zillow is also predicting that Cherry Hill values will continue to rise by 3.2% over the course of 2018.
Overall, the counties of Camden and Burlington appear to be selectively ripe to benefit from the urban boom being experienced in Philadelphia. It could be a classic case of a great New Jersey sandwich, being thrust in between two great metro areas, New York City and Philadelphia.
We will keep you posted.