What Are Center City’s Hottest Neighborhoods?

Philadelphia’s hottest neighborhoods: a topic no one ever stops talking about. Where are they? Who lives there? How much does it cost to buy a home in them? (Too much. But it costs nothing to fawn over them on the internet, so let’s continue.)

Philly.com reports that Center City’s hottest neighborhoods so far this year, measured by the number of homes sold, are Rittenhouse Square and the Fairmount/Art Museum area. That is pretty unsurprising, since Rittenhouse Square is always hot and the Fairmount area has had the most homes sold in Center City for the first quarter for the past three years straight.

The reasons for Fairmount’s success? From Philly.com:

Mike McCann, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox & Roach said this is partly because the area is larger than most other Center City neighborhoods, and also because of the diverse crowd it draws.

“That area covers everything from first-time entry-level buyers to empty-nesters and everything in between,” McCann said. “The resurgence of North Broad Street has expanded the area and has added a lot of developments.”

The average home sale price was $332,400 for Fairmount and $475,750 for Rittenhouse Square. Across the entire Greater Philadelphia region, the number of sales were down while prices went up, indicating that the market is strengthening and inventory is low, according to McCann. Extreme winter weather could also have played a part in the decline in number of sales.

The other three of the top five hottest Center City neighborhoods are, according to the report, Northern Liberties and Fishtown, Old City, and Washington Square. You can explore the whole report here.