Why Is Philly Cheaper Than Other East Coast Cities? (Philadelphia: real estate, houses)

[OleSchoolFool]

why is philly way cheaper than other major east coast cities? (NY, DC, Boston)

[FindingZen]

Simply put: Washington is the Capital of the Free World, Boston is the "Capital" of New England and New York is the Capital of "Everything Else." The Philadelphia area certainly has a lot to offer but it can't really compete with those "titles" enough to drive up the cost of living. That said, Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic metros generally have a higher COL than most everywhere else in the US besides coastal California and the Pacific Northwest because there are so many notable cities within a day's drive on I-95.

[2e1m5a]

Philadelphia is very well priced and it is all organic, unlike DC and NYC or even Boston to an extent (being the Capital of the State and benefiting from the College bubble). It is very representative of the market here. It is my opinion however that Boston, NYC and DC (especially) are highly inflated and will come back down to reality over the next decade. The financial free for all in NYC has been slowly dying since 2007, the defense contractor/Government bubble free for all in DC will not last much longer. I could see Philadelphia and Boston being the premiere East Coast cities in the decades to come, with DC and NYC taking a backseat to real honest economic growth.

I know I would like to own as many properties in Philly as I can get my hands on as I truly believe Philadelphia and Boston/NYC/DC will meet in the middle in terms of cost of living and home values over the next decade.

[tom_567]

Philadelphia is currently experiencing slow growth and just turned around its population loss. Pennsylvania's high corporate taxes and Philadelphia's Business Privelege Taxes among other detterents like wage taxes make for a tough case for rapid expansion. Every place follows the rules of supply and demand. That said, I think Philadelphia's affordability is overstated too. Places like North Philadelphia pull down the median home price. Expensive neighborhoods like Rittenhouse, Washington Square West, etc. have almost always been expensive (some exceptions like Northern Liberties and Society Hill). A reasonably sized home in expensive neighborhoods can still go for $500K and up. You can't get into a rowhouse on the fringes of Center City less than $300K. If you're willing to move out of the core, Philadelphia is affordable - the NE and NW neighborhoods are a good value.

[rotodome]

Philadelphia has had a lot of downward pressure on its real estate due to population loss, but also specifically from the relative high levels of obsolete factory workers' housing leftover from the manufacturing era, which has led to high levels of chronic abandonment and demolition.
It's turning around, though.

But we should note in this thread that the third largest city on the east coast, after NYC and Philly, is Baltimore. Not Boston or DC.
And Baltimore, which has had similar fortunes as Philly, has generally been cheaper than Philly.

[OleSchoolFool]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Philadelphia has had a lot of downward pressure on its real estate due to population loss, but also specifically from the relative high levels of obsolete factory workers' housing leftover from the manufacturing era, which has led to high levels of chronic abandonment and demolition.
It's turning around, though.

But we should note in this thread that the third largest city on the east coast, after NYC and Philly, is Baltimore. Not Boston or DC.
And Baltimore, which has had similar fortunes as Philly, has generally been cheaper than Philly.

theres a lot of abandoned areas in north jers, but it doesnt make anyth cheap, even the ghetto is pretty expensive
btw dc is third largest now at 634k 8 states change positions in U.S. population standings - The Business Journals from what i read on dc forums, bmore is not that cheap anymore due to dc people moving there for cheaper housing, it might be more expensive than philly now

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by OleSchoolFool

theres a lot of abandoned areas in north jers, but it doesnt make anyth cheap, even the ghetto is pretty expensive
btw dc is third largest now at 634k 8 states change positions in U.S. population standings - The Business Journals from what i read on dc forums, bmore is not that cheap anymore due to dc people moving there for cheaper housing, it might be more expensive than philly now

I stand corrected on B'more. I hadn't checked the latest population numbers on DC - I knew it had grown and Baltimore had shrunk (again), but I guess they finally switched places this census. It is still bigger than Boston though! lol

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.

Re North Jersey: I generally don't think you should really use NYC Metro real estate prices as a normative for price comparisons. Aside from the whole suburbs-vs-city thing, there are just way too many crazy factors driving up the price of real estate around here.
Also I don't think the scale of the abandonment in Philly, combined with the large areas of tiny obsolete 19th century worker houses that essentially no one wants anymore, is all that similar to the situation in much of North Jersey. Though if you look at properties in actual cities in North Jersey that experienced major population loss and abandonment due to suburbanization and loss of industry, they are pretty darned cheap, too.

[OleSchoolFool]

itd be interesting to see stats on whether more philly people move to the nyc area or more nyc people move to philly these days

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by OleSchoolFool

itd be interesting to see stats on whether more philly people move to the nyc area or more nyc people move to philly these days

Yeah, definitely. Especially if the stats also included things like age, income, profession, etc.
Both cities are growing.

[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.