Morning Headlines: Big Money Main Line Homes Sales Are Down
All TREND photos via BHHS Fox & Roach – Haverford.
What do you do when you have a boatload of money, old or new, and want to blow it on a lavish investment for the future? Why, you buy an enormous spread on the Main Line, of course! Its splendor alone will make sure you make money on the deal, right? Not so fast, my friend. According to a new report, high-end Main Line homes sales are actually falling. From the Philadelphia Business Journal:
Prices are off by 10 percent to 15 percent, according to Berkshire Hathaway Homes Services Prudential Fox & Roach, and sales have declined by nearly 50 percent from their peak in 2006 when 81 homes priced in that echelon in Lower Merion traded.
What’s worse for Main Liners, the money seem to be flowing into Philadelphia County, thanks in large part to the “re-urbanization” of the city (meaning, it’s now cool to live in Philly again) and also older housing stock in the ‘burbs. As pointed out by PBJ, Allen Iverson, Larry Brown and Pat Croce all took a huge hit when they sold their big money mansions recently–Croce’s pirate-infused spread sold at auction for $2.27 million late last year.
It doesn’t look like that exodus from Gladwyne, Villanova or Wayne will stop anytime soon. Philly has at least four major luxury residential properties on the horizon in 500 Walnut, Parc Rittenhouse’s raw space, One Riverside and the SLS International Hotel & Residences, the latter two are from Carl Dranoff. That’s not even taking into consideration the number new townhouse projects in the works as well.
- Why Main Line high-end home sales are way down [Philadelphia Business Journal]
Other Headliners…
- PhillyDeals: Unused corporate spaces ripe for buying [The Inquirer]
- Wayne firm to redevelop Lehigh Valley’s biggest office building [The Inquirer]
- Main Line Hospitals proposes future of historic Gerhard Building put on hold [Main Line Times]
In Case You Missed It:
- Sharswood Residents Experiencing PHA Deja Vu [Philly Mag]
- Can Disneyland Clean Up “Filthadelphia”? [Citified]
- The Real Dill: An Eco-Friendly Former Pickle Factory in Fishtown [Property]
Food for Thought:
This picnic table dude is a genius! [Curbed]
From City Lab:
It would take fewer years of work for the average single to buy an average home in Washington, D.C. (6.5), than in Baltimore (6.7) or Philadelphia (6.7).
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