Why Is Philly Cheaper Than Other East Coast Cities? (Philadelphia: condos, house)

[OleSchoolFool]

Originally Posted by bryson662001

I just read it recently but I don't remember where..... The only metros with more expensive housing than Philadelphia metro are D.C. Boston, N.Y. and the big 3 in California. We even beat Chicago and Portland and Seattle. And don't forget Philly's metro has never stopped growing and continues to do so.

chi and seattle are more expensive than philly

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by rotodome

I would be a bit surprised if Baltimore real estate was more expensive than Philly now, as Philly has been going up rather dramatically in recent years. But I don't actively follow Baltimore R.E., so maybe it is.

A couple years back, we looked at RE in Boston, Philly and Baltimore. Boston's market was considerably more expensive than Philly's. Conversely, comparable properties in the prime areas of Baltimore such as Fells Point, Harbor East, Federal Hill and Mt Vernon were considerably less expensive than those we looked at in Center City. Baltimore RE taxes, however, were through the roof.

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by jm02

A couple years back, we looked at RE in Boston, Philly and Baltimore. Boston's market was considerably more expensive than Philly's. Conversely, comparable properties in the prime areas of Baltimore such as Fells Point, Harbor East, Federal Hill and Mt Vernon were considerably less expensive than those we looked at in Center City. Baltimore RE taxes, however, were through the roof.

jm02 where have you been! Lol.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by OleSchoolFool

chi and seattle are more expensive than philly

Depending on which sources are used will give you different results. From my experiences most show that metro Philadelphia median home prices are higher than Chicago but lower than Seattle and Baltimore. Metro Philadelphia home prices are usually in the second tier of cities. Below the coastal cities and exceptions like DC but Way ahead of the sunbelt cities. Its peers are cities like Denver,Portland,Hartford etc etc...

Wash-Bal have the Federal Government economic machine.

NYC? Ive been up in north jersey, bronx,queens etc and I dont see how their housing stock is so high. I guess Manhattan,Long island,West Chester County carry them.And of course their ficiticious metro boundary helps them as they get to include the rich counties in NJ that rightfully have no business being in their metro. Hunterdon,Me..rcer,warren etc etc

Boston is a coastal city region. Where they get to include Cape Cod eg I dont believe Ocean City/Stone Harbor/Cape May median prices are included in Philadelphia statistics. The median home price in the Ocean City micro area is $315 K compared to Philadelphias $235 K . Boston + NYC benefits from all the high priced shore real estate .And being on a coast eliminates 50% of potential realestate. If there wasnt 70 miles of land between Philadelphia and the ocean Philadelphias real estate would be just as expensive as Bos and NY.


According to Keplinger 2012 median home sales.

Washington DC - $430K
Boston- $345K
NY-NJ- $330K
Baltimore- $320 K
Philadelphia- $235K

Chicago- $162K

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by rainrock

NYC? Ive been up in north jersey, bronx,queens etc and I dont see how their housing stock is so high. I guess Manhattan,Long island,West Chester County carry them.And of course their ficiticious metro boundary helps them as they get to include the rich counties in NJ that rightfully have no business being in their metro. Hunterdon,Me..rcer,warren etc etc

There was an article in the Observer earlier this year noting that Brooklyn real estate (if it were counted as a separate city) would be less expensive than only Manhattan, but more expensive than SF, making it the hypothetical 2nd most expensive city in the country.
You have to realize that NYC real estate is a crazy beast. And it's not even just about regular old rich people, which would at least make some sense. With the dollar relatively weak lately, european and asian foreigners and even multinational corporations are snapping up NYC real estate, as it's seen as a rock solid investment where you can easily dump many millions. That kind of thing has sent ripple effects through the city and region, driving its real estate even further through the roof.

[OleSchoolFool]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Depending on which sources are used will give you different results. From my experiences most show that metro Philadelphia median home prices are higher than Chicago but lower than Seattle and Baltimore. Metro Philadelphia home prices are usually in the second tier of cities. Below the coastal cities and exceptions like DC but Way ahead of the sunbelt cities. Its peers are cities like Denver,Portland,Hartford etc etc...

Wash-Bal have the Federal Government economic machine.

NYC? Ive been up in north jersey, bronx,queens etc and I dont see how their housing stock is so high. I guess Manhattan,Long island,West Chester County carry them.And of course their ficiticious metro boundary helps them as they get to include the rich counties in NJ that rightfully have no business being in their metro. Hunterdon,Me..rcer,warren etc etc

Boston is a coastal city region. Where they get to include Cape Cod eg I dont believe Ocean City/Stone Harbor/Cape May median prices are included in Philadelphia statistics. The median home price in the Ocean City micro area is $315 K compared to Philadelphias $235 K . Boston + NYC benefits from all the high priced shore real estate .And being on a coast eliminates 50% of potential realestate. If there wasnt 70 miles of land between Philadelphia and the ocean Philadelphias real estate would be just as expensive as Bos and NY.


According to Keplinger 2012 median home sales.

Washington DC - $430K
Boston- $345K
NY-NJ- $330K
Baltimore- $320 K
Philadelphia- $235K

Chicago- $162K

lookin at rents in decent, comparable nhoods in both cities is what i used
i dont kno bout those values, ny/nj at 330k is misleading, no way u can buy an average home at that price in a decent nhood

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by OleSchoolFool

chi and seattle are more expensive than philly

Some lists may be just the city proper while others are for the whole metro. Philadelphia city has a huge number of inexpensive row houses that pull the avaerage down while houses in the suburbs are much more expensive.

[drive carephilly]

A lot of people are mixing and matching city and metro. The whole Philly metro has relatively cheap housing when compared to other Northeastern cities.

It's because there hasn't been any recent periods of rapid growth and generally slow growth over the last 40 years, there's a steady supply of new housing being added to the inventory, there are still plenty of farms in the suburbs to build on and still plenty of vacant buildings and lots in the city to build on.

As others have said, the growth in the DC area is driven by the federal gov't and much of the growth in NYC is driven by Wall St.

Boston is a different story but in addition to having a solid employment base of universities and hospitals it offers a quality of life (weather aside) not available in many other places in the country.

It's less that Philly is "cheaper" than Boston or NYC but more that it's 20 years behind NYC and 30 years behind Boston in its renaissance. Philly lost its core industries much later than either of those cities and didn't really hit bottom until the early 90s.

Originally Posted by jm02

Baltimore RE taxes, however, were through the roof.

This ^^^

You gotta pay the piper. Sure, gov't can always be more efficient but lowering the BPT/Wage tax means balancing it with increasing property taxes. Good for business. Not that great for homeowners.

[OleSchoolFool]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

A lot of people are mixing and matching city and metro. The whole Philly metro has relatively cheap housing when compared to other Northeastern cities.

It's because there hasn't been any recent periods of rapid growth and generally slow growth over the last 40 years, there's a steady supply of new housing being added to the inventory, there are still plenty of farms in the suburbs to build on and still plenty of vacant buildings and lots in the city to build on.

As others have said, the growth in the DC area is driven by the federal gov't and much of the growth in NYC is driven by Wall St.

Boston is a different story but in addition to having a solid employment base of universities and hospitals it offers a quality of life (weather aside) not available in many other places in the country.

It's less that Philly is "cheaper" than Boston or NYC but more that it's 20 years behind NYC and 30 years behind Boston in its renaissance. Philly lost its core industries much later than either of those cities and didn't really hit bottom until the early 90s.



This ^^^

You gotta pay the piper. Sure, gov't can always be more efficient but lowering the BPT/Wage tax means balancing it with increasing property taxes. Good for business. Not that great for homeowners.

i don kno what happened in nyc in the last 20 yrs, but nyc ghettos still look atrocious, half of the city looks filthy and trashy as hell, but i guess nyc gets a pass cuz its nyc its been rated as america's dirtiest city, repeatedly
philly mite look bad too, but lets cut the bs and stop pretendin nyc is all peaches and cream
dont believe the hype

[Toure]

Originally Posted by jm02

A couple years back, we looked at RE in Boston, Philly and Baltimore. Boston's market was considerably more expensive than Philly's. Conversely, comparable properties in the prime areas of Baltimore such as Fells Point, Harbor East, Federal Hill and Mt Vernon were considerably less expensive than those we looked at in Center City. Baltimore RE taxes, however, were through the roof.

LOL! @ Boston's Market. Im so immature...