Philadelphia

Prices and Demand Rise in Philly Suburban Housing Market

Many are having a tough time finding a home in this market either because home prices are too high or homes are going so fast.

Demand in the Philadelphia suburban housing market is just as strong as it is in the city. However, many are having a tough time finding a home in this market either because home prices are too high or homes are going so fast.

That's the situation Perri and Robert Silverstein find themselves in. The couple recently moved back to South Jersey from Chicago and are on the hunt for their first home.

"Definitely a little bit of a come back to reality kind of feeling," Perri Silverstein said.

The Silversteins know this market is a seller’s market and that the perfect house comes at a premium due to low housing inventory.

"I'm sticker shocked," Perri Silverstein said. "A lot more than I was ever expecting. I mean just from last year alone, prices are jumping up."

Nevertheless, houses are going fast. According to Bright MLS, the organization the Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors uses, in South Jersey, the number of homes that have sold in the first three months of this year are up 24.7 percent in Camden County and 16.2 percent in Burlington County. In Pennsylvania, sold houses have gone up 2.8 percent in Montgomery County, nine percent in Delaware County and 9.9 percent in Chester County.

“If we go into a house and they love it, I tell them this house is probably not going to be here if you don't make an offer," said Jon Cohen, a realtor with clients on both sides of the river.

Cohen said that the high price and pace in Philly’s housing market is definitely having a trickledown effect on the suburbs.

“I’ve helped a few people who were originally looking in the city and then decided to expand and look in Haddonfield and Collingswood,” he said. “They might have spent nine months looking in Philly and they end up buying in South Jersey."

The Silversteins, unlike some of Cohen’s clients, are prepared to stick it out and find the right house for them. 

"It hasn't been tough yet," Robert Silverstein said. "But we don't have a house yet. I'll let you know when we do, how tough it gets."

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