USA Today shows that the majority of the real estate crisis is confined to just 5 states: California, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Florida. Most of America is not in a foreclosure crisis. Real Estate foreclosures in Philadelphia remain low and the market fundimentals are strong.

Interest rates are at 30 year lows and this allows you to buy more home for lower payments. While other parts of the country have been in a real estate slump, Philadelphia has remained a good value. This and the historically low rates make it the perfect time to buy a new home.

Advice for buyers: If you are thinking about purchasing, do it now.
Interest rates haven’t been lower for 30 years and the slowdown makes sellers eager to sell. Move quickly and keep an eye on new listings as good homes still sell in days. One good way to keep track of what’s new is to sign up for our daily email from our website.

Advice for sellers: The market is strong for those who price right.
If your house doesn’t sell in the first 60 days on the market, consider lowering your price. Good values drive buyer interest and for the first time in awhile we’ve been seeing bidding wars for houses priced right.

Contact Philly Living today to learn how we can help sell your home.

Finally, a large part of our business is via referrals. If you know someone looking to buy or sell real estate please have them contact us.

You can now download the 2008 year end analysis of Philadelphia real estate trends for Center City and Mainline. This report looks at quarterly and yearly trends for Philadelphia real estate.

Center City prices have remained steady throughout the year despite national trends. However, the effects of the national financial crises are impacting the number of sales, which is down significantly. You can read full details about your neighborhood in our report.

Interesting trends are happening in the Luxury market where the number, median, and average price are all up significantly. This mini-boom in luxury properties is a good leading indicator for the market as a whole. It says great things about Philadelphia when the rich are buying property at levels we haven’t seen for some time.

Interest Rates are making homes more affordable

Interest rates are at 30 year lows and this allows you to buy more home for lower payments. While other parts of the country have been in a real estate slump, Philadelphia has remained a good value. This and the historically low rates make it the perfect time to buy a new home.

Advice for buyers: If you are thinking about purchasing, do it now. Â Interest rates haven’t been lower for 30 years. Move quickly and keep an eye on new listings as good homes sell in days. One good way to keep track of what’s new is to sign up for our daily email from our website.

Advice for sellers: The market is strong for those who price right. Â If your house doesn’t sell in the first 60 days on the market, consider lowering your price. Good values drive buyer interest and for the first time in awhile we’ve been seeing bidding wars for houses priced right. Contact Philly Living today to learn how we can help sell your home.

Greenspan wrote that the recent slowing in the rate of decline in U.S. home prices is the first positive note in the year-long trauma and that eventually, frozen credit markets will thaw “as frightened investors take tentative steps toward reengagement with risk.”

“More conclusive signs of pending home price stability are likely to become visible in the first half of 2009,” he wrote.

Once the housing market finds it footing, markets will be able to tackle the core issues of the credit crisis.

In the “Great Neighborhoods” category, Society Hill was a winner, and South Broad Street’s Avenue of the Arts took a “Great Streets” award. Both were among 10 national recipients in each category, but Philadelphia was the only city to garner more than one prize, Jastrzab said.

The 325-year-old Society Hill neighborhood, named in honor of the Free Society of Traders, chartered in 1682 by William Penn, “provides a stimulating confluence of varying architectural styles, mixed uses, and social diversity in a downtown urban setting.”

The eight blocks of South Broad Street from City Hall to South Street, transformed during the past decade into the Avenue of the Arts, made the APA’s “Great Streets” honor roll for “its historical character, focus on the arts, social vibrancy, and public and private redevelopment efforts.” First developed in 1681, South Broad is one of the oldest planned streets in the country.

The nine other APA 2008 Great Neighborhoods are: Echo Park (Los Angeles); Greater Park Hill (Denver) ; North End (Boise, Idaho) ; Old Town Wichita (Wichita, Kan.); Downtown Salem (Salem, Mass.); Charles Village (Baltimore); Greater University Hill (Syracuse, N.Y.); Village of Mariemont (Mariemont, Ohio); and Downtown Sheridan (Sheridan, Wyo.).

The nine other APA 2008 Great Streets are: Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz.; Seventh Avenue in Tampa, Fla.; West Main Street in Louisville, Ky.; Commercial Street in Portland, Maine; Washington Street in Boston; Main Street in Annapolis, Md.; Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minn.; South El Paso in El Paso, Texas; and Clarendon & Wilson Boulevards in Arlington, Va.

High Noon Entertainment is producing “My First Place” for HGTV, and is based out of Denver, Colorado. Our show captures the drama of finding and financing one’s first place, and ends with the couple’s/person’s/family’s taking possession of their first home. In each episode, we give the new homeowners a surprise housewarming gift to thank them for their participation.  We will be shooting several episodes in Philadelphia this fall, and are actively looking for some fun, high-energy first-time homebuyers and their realtors who are interested in being featured on the show.

The person(s) should be very motivated to buy and not mind having a camera crew standing by to shoot all of the exciting (and not-so-exciting) processes and experiences of finding and financing their first home. Â Therefore, we need them as early in the process as possible. Â Applicants should be ready to start looking soon, with a reasonable expectation of closing within about 90 days.

Let us know if you or someone you know would be interested in this unique opportunity!

At the same time, we all know that interest rates have risen (about 1% in the last quarter) and most economic forecasts assume that they will continue to rise. So what is a buyer to do?

We’ve put together some simple numbers looking at what we believe could be reality - a 5% drop in home prices coupled with a 1% increase in interest rates. Most indicators show that 5% is probably a bit extreme, but erring on the side of caution seems prudent. So what does this all mean?

It turns out, from a financial standpoint, most buyer will save themselves money by hedging their bets against increasing interest rates rather than hoping that the market will dip. After all, most people who were hoping for a dip were not so happy to find out that Center City prices are up 1% year over year….

Right now, Philadelphia has an inventory accumulation of 9. What is interesting about this is if you look at the breakdown by price range:

From $200,000 to $300,000 the accumulation is 9.
From $300,000 to $400,000 the accumulation is 10.
From $400,000 to $500,000 the accumulation is 11.

Notice a pattern? Now here is where it gets interesting:

From $500,000 to $600,000 the accumulation is 18!

I wish I could say that it improves after that, but it keeps climing to an inventory accumulation of 56 when you get to $2,000,000.

So what does this mean? Simply put, the city-wide numbers that are being reported are heavily skewed because of the luxury properties that just are not selling. However, for the “average” Philadelphia buyer and seller under $500,000, the market is strong and moving along. For a more detailed look at the market on a nieghborhood level, see our exclusive market report.