Looking for a snapshot of housing conditions in Chester County? The Planning Commission recently released its annual Housing Report for 2018, which documented an overall increase in recent years in both the cost of units and the number of units built.
In 2018, the number of units sold was 7,480, making it the highest volume of sales since 2006. The median sales price for all units (including newly built and existing stock) for 2018 was $340,000, making it the highest it has been since 1990. The median sales price for the 898 new units first sold during 2018 was $444,000.
In 2018, 1,355 units were built, a 19 percent drop from the prior year. In 2017, single-family detached units accounted for 30 percent of all newly constructed units, while multifamily units were at 39 percent. But in 2018, single-family detached units rose to 45 percent, while multifamily units dropped to only 9 percent. Similarly, in 2018, multifamily units (or apartments) totaled 116, which was a drop from the 2017 value of 656. However, Planning Commission and Tax Assessment data for the first quarter of 2019 indicate strong new apartment construction. As a result, it is anticipated that apartments will rise in 2019.