Philadelphia Region Home Prices See Sharp Yearly Increase

PHILADELPHIA — Shopping for a new house on a budget? Finding the right home at the right price may prove challenging in the Philadelphia region as home prices continue to rise here and in other parts of the United States, according to a new report by online real estate company Redfin.

The report released Thursday analyzed the conditions of the U.S. housing market in July 2021 compared with July 2020. To compile the report, Redfin looked at median home prices by metro region, the number of homes sold, new listings and more.

In the Philly are, the median price of homes sold in July increased 12.9 percent from a year earlier. The median home price in our city was $280,000.

Despite a rise in home prices, the number of houses sold in Philadelphia dropped compared with this time last year. According to the report, 2,744 homes were sold in July, a 6.8 percent increase from July 2020 and a 14.4 percent decrease from last month.

July marked the 12th consecutive month of increasing home prices nationwide, according to Redfin’s data. By month’s end, the median price of homes sold across the country reached a new all-time high of $385,600, up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier.

July 2021 also marked the fourth month in a row in which no metros saw price declines.

Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said home prices are soaring at an “astonishing rate," making it even harder for potential buyers to afford homeownership.

For those who can afford to buy a home, the market is slowly becoming less competitive, Fairweather said in the report. This means potential homebuyers will have more options, but it might be worth waiting to find the right home at the right price.

“Demand has softened enough that homes aren’t flying off the market quite as fast or for as much above list price as they were in the spring,” Fairweather said. “Mortgage rates are remaining about as low as they’ve ever been, so buyers who lose out in a bidding war don’t have to fear that they’ve missed their window to buy.”

Explaining the jump in home prices is proving more difficult.

“Now that we’re a year out from the post-lockdown rebound, we can no longer explain away the enormous price growth by pointing to the pandemic’s earliest impacts on the housing market,” Fairweather said

Here are a couple of additional numbers that illustrate how the Philly region housing market has changed amid the coronavirus pandemic:

New home listings

• July 2021 listings: 2,349
• Month-over-month change: -19.1 percent
• Yearly change: -30 percent

All homes for sale

• July 2021 listings: 6,180
• Month-over-month change: -13.8 percent
• Yearly change: -34.8 percent

When it comes to home prices, Austin, Texas, had the nation’s highest price growth. Home prices there increased 38.6 percent since last year to $485,000. Phoenix had the second highest year-over-year growth at 28.1 percent, followed by Salt Lake City at 26.1 percent.

Meanwhile, New York led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 79 percent. Richmond, Virginia, saw the largest decline in sales, falling 52.3 percent.

As for options, Milwaukee had the highest increase in the number of homes for sale, up 3.1 percent from last year, followed by Columbus, Ohio, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.

See the full report on Redfin’s website.