Philadelphia’s favorite real estate brainiac, Dr. Kevin Gillen, from the Wharton School released his analysis for 2009′s 3rd quarter, and if I must say so myself, it is looking good! Ok fine, it is less than a 1% gain, but its a GAIN!!! Remember this time last year when it seemed like every bank needed a bailout, the stock market crashed and about 2 people in Philadelphia bought a house???  Well  one of the bail out recipients, Fannie Mae, just declared the housing market has recovered and the nation can expect to see double-digit increases in the sales of new and exisiting homes.  Additionally, CNBC released its list of the 15 Hottest Zip Codes for year over price growth and 3 of the 15 are in the city, #2 is 19145, #3 is 19148 & #14 19104.

This is what Dr. Gillen reports:  “Even with the weakening of the recent surge in house prices, Philadelphia remains in far better shape than most other major U.S. cities. According to Case-Shiller MacroMarkets’composite house price index, house prices have fallen by an average of 32% in the ten largest U.S. cities since the bursting of the housing bubble, compared to only 8% in Philadelphia. Of the twenty largest cities in the U.S., all but one (Dallas) have experienced more severe house price declines than Philadelphia. And, according to the research firm IHS Global Insight, the typical Philadelphia home is now considered to be under-priced by 2%.

For his full report check out  http://www.econsult.com/2009_Q3.htm

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