Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

We Will Remember 2014 As The

Year Of No Inventory

In my opinion, the cause is easy to pinpoint.

We are just now coming to a time in the market where prices have begun to rise. However, they have not risen to a point where many sellers have a ton of equity into their Center City condos.

As a result, they either choose not to sell or simply cannot sell because they do not have the equity to move into a new home. This creates a bottleneck of demand- buyers are buying but there is not enough product on the market to meet that demand.

We see this phenomenon once every 7 years or so when the market shifts from a buyers market to a sellers market.

Look for the situation to change next fall as more sellers gain the equity needed to move into a new home and list their current properties.

  Although I don’t mean to be the “big brain”….

We do have a fairly sizable amount of the

Center City Condo inventory for our buyers….

   When the market hits a rough patch, the outlying areas are the first to notice the change in terms of demand and therefore pricing. Those “B” areas are usually the last to rebound in terms of demand and prices when the market picks up speed. There are exceptions to that rule of course, but anyone would have a tough time arguing that Rittenhouse Square has the fluctuations in demand during the high and low parts of the Center City condo market when compared to our “B & C” inventory. There is indeed something to be said about the “location, location, location” saying.

   But when the market is in full swing as it is today and buyers outnumber sellers, we see the “B” inventory pull up the rear with a real sense of urgency and demand. There are no less than a half dozen condo buildings around town that have had some exceedingly impressive sales….sales where no prior sales have occurred for the past say two years.  As the core of our Center City condo market strengthens, so does our outlying areas and with that, our “B” inventory.

   The resale prices in some of our “B” locations is striking as we see values “stair-stepping”,where one sale builds upon the one prior and prices stair-step up in clear and rapid fashion. We can see that trend throughout the Center City condo market and many buildings that had no traction even a year ago are seeing wonderful attention in today’s market.

I get asked a lot of questions about Center City condos. Tons actually.