Want to know how the condominium market is different and how a Philadelphia condo is breaking housing market records?
This post is all about knowing the difference in the values between Philadelphia condos vs traditional houses.
The housing market is under a microscope right now and if you’re anything like me, you are reading everything you can to make sure you are fully informed. As a researcher myself, I am showing you how the Philadelphia condo prices are different from the traditional single family houses.
You are going to learn about the Phila Condo prices from the standard condos to the Philadelphia luxury condominium that’s breaking records.
After you learn about how we value condos differently from traditional houses you are going to be extra prepared when listing or buying your next home.
This post is all about knowing the difference in the value of a Philadelphia condo vs a traditional single family house.
Before we dig into the Philadelphia Condo Prices…
One very important difference between a traditional house and a condominium:
- A condo is a form of ownership. It is not a style of home.
- So a condo could be a unit within a building, a townhouse, or a detached house.
- A condominium project could be one building, several buildings, an entire neighborhood. Heck, we have an whole town in Chester County, Pennsylvania that is one huge condominium project.
Traditional single family housing market in Philadelphia: Here’s the scoop.
The Philadelphia sale prices for traditional single family homes have decreased for three months in a row, which is pretty typical for the season of the year.
In the beginning of 2022 the list prices for single family homes bumped up (see the blue line below) to meet the demand of which the higher sale prices (green bars) from November and December 2021 surprised us with as the housing market was still on fire.
Then, as the news media did their best to scare everyone with 5% interest rates, we saw the list prices drop in May even though the houses were selling for above asking prices and the final sales prices were steadily climbing.
As everyone caught on, the list prices jumped up last month.
But, unfortunately the price jump was a little too late.
And so it goes. Ebb and flow. Pretty typical.
Here, you can see the Philadelphia house prices for traditional single family homes month by month.
You’ll notice that the Median Sale Price for Sept 2021 is almost the same as Sept 2022.
The same goes for the Median List Prices.
As of September 2022 the median list prices were about $15,000 higher than the median sale prices.
Now, Let’s Look at the Philadelphia Condo Prices
It’s important to look at condo prices separately because they are a different form of ownership.
You can clearly see this portrayed in the graph below.
The Phila condo market is a different housing market which is why the sales and listing prices are not the same as the traditional single family homes.
Notice the sale prices were only higher than the list prices once this entire year?
And, look at that red spike in list price for Sept 2022!
Even, though the sale prices were decreasing, the list prices jumped like crazy.
Once again, here are the actual numbers.
Take a look at the highlighted bottom right.
Yep, you are seeing it correctly. That’s more than a $100,000 difference.
Take a Closer Look at the Philadelphia Condo Prices.
I took a deeper dive into what was driving those big price differences.
Research shows that one of the influences driving the list prices up is the availability of more higher end condos.
Let’s compare the standard Philadelphia condos to the luxury condos.
Or, as our mortgage friends call these: the Conforming Loans vs the Jumbo Loans.
Here is a breakdown of the standard Philadelphia Condos
This graph below shows us the list price leveled off in September for Phila condos sold/listed between $0 to $699,000.
Here is a breakdown of the Luxury Condos in Philadelphia
This graph below shows us the list price jumped in September for Phila condos sold/listed for $700,000 and higher.
Finally, we are getting to the root of the curious spike in list prices.
Did I also mention that the higher the sale price = more cash sales and more private sales?
This appears to the source of the spike in list prices.
Let’s Look a Little Deeper: New Construction Condos for Sale in Philadelphia
We are not done yet.
Yep, I separated out all of the new construction Phila condos for sale and found these interesting facts:
In September 2021 there were 241 new listings of condos for sale in Philadelphia and 13% of those Phila condos were new construction.
For September 2022 there were 217 new condo listings and 17% were new construction condos.
So, we have less listings, but more new construction hitting the multiple listings.
Currently, there are 109 new construction condos for sale in Phila in the range of $0 – $699,000. (The lowest price is $205,000 on the 500 block of West Norris.)
And, there are 42 new construction luxury condos for sale in Philadelphia for $700,000 or higher. (keep reading the find out about the highest price)
Related Post: Home Demand Report
The Philadelphia Condo for Sale that is Breaking Records.
Bonus fun fact:
In 2016, according to the Philadelphia Property Records the highest condo sale price for the city settled at 12 million dollars in 2016. It’s a penthouse located at 1414 S Penn Square, which is right by City Hall.
Then, the Philadelphia condos at 500 Walnut came on the scene, which significantly raised the bar for luxury condominiums.
I remember going to 500 Walnut to complete an appraisal in 2019 for a tiny 3 million dollar unit in this gorgeous newer Phila condo building.
The views are absolutely breathtaking.
In 2019, there was a lot of construction still taking place in many of the units.
During my visit, the realtor told me the penthouse had sold as raw space for 17 million.
It’s true. The penthouse sold for 17 million in 2017, completely bare and unfinished.
This was a private sale and it broke the record for the highest price luxury condo in Philadelphia.
Now, this Philadelphia Luxury Condo is currently for sale at an asking price of 27 million via the multiple listings after dropping the list price from a reported 32 million off-listing campaign since 2020.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens!
