Alan J Heavens, Philadelphia Inquirer Real Estate Writer wrote a very comprehensive article in last Sunday’s Edition, Sept. 22nd, 2007 entitled "What Is Your Home Worth? The region's housing market is healthy despite national troubles."
Here are some excerpts from the article (full article link, below, plus a link to an interacgtive map of home-price and and sales data for the region ):
Observers of the local real estate market say the eight-county Philadelphia region has so far managed to dodge the crashing prices that have beset some other major U.S. metropolitan areas.
Clearly, the yearly double-digit price increases and same-day sales that characterized the hot market of 2000 to 2005 are over.
This region's diverse economy is not dependent on home construction. The local staples - health care, pharmaceuticals and education - all are growing service industries.
People here tend to be conservative about how they finance home purchases. An Inquirer analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data shows that subprime loans are not as prevalent in the eight-county region as they are in comparable metropolitan areas.
Compared with other parts of the country, the number of foreclosures and mortgages in delinquency relative to the number of loans is low here, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association and RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures.
To view the full article, go to: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/9943907.html
To see interactive maps of home - price and sales data for the region, go to: http://go.philly.com/homeprice
On Sept. 30th, Alan Heavnes wrote another article in response to "Reader' Addtional Questions on Prices: What excatly is a median price and why did we use it?": http://www.philly.com/inquirer/real_estate/10048797.html