New research has found that while it is still a city of homeowners, Philadelphia is less affordable than it has historically been, not just in the past several years but also over the last two decades, writes Aaron Moselle for WHYY.
“The affordability of the city’s market is changing,” said Octavia Howell, a manager with the Philadelphia Research and Policy Initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts. “It’s absolutely changing.”
According to a newly released Pew report, the median sale price for an entry-level home went down between 2021 and 2023, but due to higher interest rates, the median monthly mortgage payment increased. The median mortgage payment was $944 in 2021, compared to $1,213 two years later.
This increase is part of a broader trend in Philadelphia that has made the city a tougher place to buy a home for people with low and moderate incomes.
In 2000, homes priced at $100,000 or less made up around half of all transactions among people who used a mortgage to buy a home. By 2021, that number dropped down to just three percent.
Meanwhile, in that same time period, homes priced at $400,000 or more went from three percent of all transactions up to 23 percent.
Read more about Philadelphia’s rising home prices in WHYY.
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