Each year, the Chester County Planning Commission collects and reports data on housing prices, housing affordability, and new units constructed across Chester County as part of the ongoing implementation of Landscapes3, the county’s comprehensive plan.
The 2019 residential housing data, which was presented at the Planning Commission’s Board Meeting on August 11, was largely consistent with the data from 2018, however there were a few key differences to acknowledge.
In 2019, the median sale price for homes in Chester County was $355,000 – a 4.4% increase from 2018 which was $340,000. However for “new homes” sold, the median was nearly $100,000 higher.
While Chester County’s median home sale prices have continued to rise over the years, 2019 saw a decrease in housing affordability and home sales, as well as a shift in construction from multifamily units (such as apartments), to single-family attached homes (such as townhomes).
Although this shift is largely replacing multifamily units across the county, the sales of detached single-family homes were still far higher than the sales of townhomes and apartments.
Despite this shift, three new apartment complexes were completed in 2019 displaying the ongoing need for a variety of housing options. This includes 152 W King Street in Malvern (2 units), Steeltown Village in Phoenixville (48 units), and the Westside Apartments in East Pikeland (144 units).
Additionally, there were 600 new single-family detached, 588 new single-family attached, and 221 new multi-family units constructed – for a total of 1,409 new units in 2019.
Municipalities with the top home sales in 2019 included (for each municipality): Tredyffrin (583), East Goshen (335), West Whiteland (283), Phoenixville (273), and Uwchlan (263). The total number of home sales in Chester County in 2019 was 7,337.
About 25% of these homes were sold for under $250,000, however this percentage is decreasing slightly as home values are steadily on the rise.
Municipalities with the highest median home sale price in 2019 included: Newlin ($700,000), Easttown ($655,000), Birmingham ($569,000), Pocopson ($535,000), and Charlestown ($521,000). While municipalities with the lowest median sale price included the City of Coatesville ($110,000), South Coatesville ($175,000), Oxford ($190,000), Parkesburg ($196,000), and Spring City ($198,000).
Stay tuned for more information about residential housing data in Chester County to come!
See an overview of the 2019 Housing Report here: https://www.chescoplanning.org/pdf/Housing082120.pdf.
If you have any questions, please contact Libby Horwitz, Senior Housing & Economic Planner, at ehorwitz@chesco.org.
Are you sure you mean Phoenixville borough for 4th largest home sales? Or do you mean the zip code 19460, which is the greater Phoenixville area? That seems very high for a borough compared to other much larger and densely populated townships like West Goshen.
The municipality sales numbers are derived from Chester County Assessment data, which provides the municipal code for each sale. According to this data, Phoenixville Borough had the 4th highest number of sales in Chester County, with 273 sales in 2019. If you have any further question you can email ehorwitz@chesco.org.