Report: Philly’s housing inventory has hit an all-time low

The amount of homes for sale in Philly has hit an all-time low, with only 3,883 houses currently on the market.

Second quarter numbers are in, proving what the local real estate world has been hinting at for months: Philly’s real estate market is accelerating at a record-breaking pace.

“This is the first time that this number has fallen below 4,000 in the history of this data going back to 2001,” Kevin Gillen, senior research fellow at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, writes in his latest second quarter report. “Combining such low supply with the current rapid pace of sales, it would take only 3.1 months to burn off the existing inventory of homes for sale.”

To put that in perspective, Gillen adds, five to seven months is considered a “normal” or “balanced” market.

Gillen’s quarterly reports analyze data from the city’s Recorder of Deed’s Office and Trend Multiple Listing Service. It does not include condominiums.

Such a low housing stock has created a sort of waterfall effect, causing skyrocketing housing prices and bidding wars. Gillen notes that the average price of homes in Philadelphia is now $198,150—a 13.2 percent increase from last quarter.

And given the lack of available homes, it only makes sense that the whatever homes are up for grabs are selling like hotcakes. Second quarter numbers reveal that the average time a home spent on the market fell to 48 days, which is a 25 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2017.

So what are the hottest areas in Philly right now? As expected, South Philly is having its big moment right now, with home prices increasing by 7.4 percent in the second quarter. In fact, this section of Philly accounted for 20 percent of all city home sales in the month of May alone.

Gillen’s map of the city’s submarkets helps put it all into perspective.

You can check out the full breakdown of Philly’s second real estate quarter at the Lindy Institute’s website.

• Top 10 zip codes in Philly where most homes sold in May [Curbed Philly]