This quarterly market report is provided by Dr. Kevin Gillen, an economist and Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Urban Research. He analyzes the Philadelphia real estate market using the city’s real estate database through Econsult, an economics consulting firm based in Philadelphia PA that provides statistical & econometric analysis in support of litigation as well as business and public policy decision-makers. His results are published in a research paper called Philadelphia House Price Indices each quarter as a public service to the Philadelphia real estate community. Here’s his methodology.

Kevin does a great job parsing out the market and it is a pleasure to share his results on Matrix …Jonathan Miller

Download the report and Kevin’s commentary.

Observations

>The most recent home sales data indicate a solidifying of the local housing market’s condition after several years of both declining sales and prices.

>After two years of falling prices, prices held steady for the third consecutive quarter in 2009 Q4. The typical Philadelphia home rose in value by 0.5% on a quality- and seasonally- adjusted basis this past fall, according to the latest analysis by Econsult economist Kevin Gillen. From the housing market’s peak in 2006 to the recent trough of last winter, the average Philadelphia home had fallen in value by a total of 10.5%. But with the market’s apparent stabilization in the latter part of 2009, the average Philadelphia home has recovered 3.5% of its lost value, thereby reducing its total loss to only 7% since the bursting of the national housing bubble several years ago.