City home sales take a dip

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, August, 2006 | by Alan J. Heavens

Philadelphia's once hard-driving real estate market is clearly decelerating in 2006, a survey of sales in the first half of this year indicates. At the same time, median home prices in the city are increasing at about the rate economists had forecast.

Prudential Fox & Roach's HomExpert report for the first six months of 2006, based on an analysis of regional home-sales data from the Trend Multiple Listing Service, shows a 3.9 percent decline in residential sales in the city compared with the same January-to-June period in 2005.

Meanwhile, the city's median home price increased 3.9 percent over the first six months of 2006, to $135,000 from $129,900 in the same period last year.

The median is the middle value: Half sold for more, half sold for less. A rise in...