This quarterly market report is provided by Dr. Kevin Gillen, an economist at the Real Estate Department of the Wharton School and Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania. He analyzes the Philadelphia real estate market using the city’s real estate database through Hallwatch, a watchdog group. The 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 [pdf].

Kevin does a great job parsing out the market and its a pleasure to share his results on Matrix —Jonathan Miller

Download the full report [pdf].

Read the Hallwatch article on the market: City housing market: brisk decline continues

The Philadelphia real estate market is showing price and sales declines. Here are some key points:

* the typical Philadelphia home fell in value last quarter by an average of 2.7% after accounting for quality and season.
* Just 4,000 homes changed hands under arms-length conditions in Q1, which is a 15% drop from the 4,725 homes that sold last fall. Although home sales volume usually declines in the winter months, this was the slowest winter since 2003.
* The number of homes listed for sale stayed approximately flat throughout the winter at just under 11,000 units.
* The average time it took for a home to sell rose to an all-time high of 77 days.

More discussion concerning the report [Hallwatch.org]. Hallwatch is a private and independently maintained watchdog website that does a lot of in-depth, independent and investigative pieces on city politics, as well as real estate.