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Originally Posted by cardeza
some are, some are not. The parts of NE philly that attract a lot of immigrants continue to grow. The outlying areas near the city's NW and NE borders are generally stagnant or slightly declining. But it's nothing like the massive hemorraging that took place from the rowhouse neighborhoods from the 70s through 90s.
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Literally nowhere in the NW is declining anymore. This is why I view these statistics skeptically.
Developers are literally shoving $600K town and twin homes throughout Manayunk and Roxborough (yes, Roxborough), Chestnut Hill is seeing its first density along Germantown in generations (and there is a healthy amount of tear down activity for uber luxury new construction), the Mt Airy's (including East Mount Airy) have completely filled in, and Germantown (and West Germantown in particular) are on fire. On the east end, you have Ken Weinstein's repositioning of the Old Wayne Junction station, but you also have tons of renovations happening everywhere. The Tuplehocken Station area of West Germantown has become virtually indistinguishable from West Mount Airy, with nearly every block in perfect condition, a new Waldorf School and even an Ultimo Coffee, with homes going under contract for $500k-$700K in DAYS. I bought a house in West Germantown a few years ago (for $70K) and seeing ANYTHING in West Germantown for more than $200K was rare, with homes on only the finest blocks and the best condition occassionally going for $300-$350k (Blue Bell Hill excluded).
There's just a massive amount of energy in Germantown at the moment.
Add to that, East Falls (which has new construction on the river, finally) and a Callahan Ward proposal for 30+ new homes for sale, Wissahickon (which never declined), and Cedarbrook, where home prices seem to be at an all time high, it seems literally unbelievable to say the NW is declining.
The only place I'd agree there is flight is in the NE, but even there the statistics I think are lying. Mayfair is all of a sudden about 25% Chinese and growing, quickly. I wouldn't call having a contigent of cash buyers who own businesses fleeing NY to repopulate neighborhoods where decline was presumed as a bad thing. In fact, I would call it a second lease on life.