Suburban Philadelphia Real Estate News

Welcome to the Darby Station of the SEPTA R2 Regional Rail Line located just in the southeast corner of Darby Borough PA.

The SEPTA R2 Regional Rail Line running from downtown Philadelphia to Wilmington and Newark Delaware just crosses the southeast corner of Darby Borough. The Darby station is located in this corner of the borough at the 4th Street overpass of the SEPTA R2 Regional and the Amtrak Northeast Corridor Rail Lines. Colwyn Borough lies just to the east of 4th Street and roughly to the south of the tracks.

This is a nice spacious local station withsome limited parking on the southbound side but witheasy access for the local residents of both Colwyn and Darby Boroughs. There is plenty of adjacent space in the adjoining parking lot for dropping off and picking up passengers. The Darby station is located in a primarily residential area of the boroughs and is within easy walking distance of many local residents. The video should provide a better feel for the area:

There is a nice mixture of local real estate values in the area.  The community contains a mix of single family homes, twins, and row properties.  The area has seen a pull back in prices in 2009.  From 2006 through 2008, the average sales prices held at just above $68,000.  In 2009 year-to-date, the average price has pulled back to $54,000.  Sales volume has also fallen from a peak of 184 homes sold in 2006, to 99 home sales in 2008, and only 55 so far in 2009.  At this point, there are currently an additional 97 homes on the market with an average price of $72,000 and 12 homes are under contract at an average asking price of $53,000.

This is a convenient local station for both Colwyn and Darby boroughs with plenty of room for picking up or dropping off passengers and some limited available parking.  It is also the closest R2 Regional Rail Line Station to the Philadelphia International Airport. 

As always, if you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

(All statistics per the TrendMLS System and believed accurate but not guaranteed)

Darby Borough PA has been one of the most stable real estate locations in Suburban Philadelphia and Delaware County.  It is also one of the least expensive areas appealing to a wide variety of home buyers as well as to investors looking for solid investments.  With this steady demand and support, the prices in the area have remained almost flat for the last several years.

Darby has a long history and has always seen good demand for its housing due to its convenient location adjacent to Philadelphia and close to the Philadelphia International Airport.  Over the years though, its housing has not kept pace with some of the current trends.  Row homes remain the most common housing, but there has been a lack of new investment in the township resulting in much new growth and development moving further west through the county.  This has actually worked out well with Darby being able to avoid the wide price variations experienced in other Delaware County locations, and prices have remained remarkably stable until recently. 

This stability may be coming to an end as prices seem to be settling quite rapidly.  In 2005, the average sales price was $61,000. In 2006, 2007, and 2008, the average sales price rose and stayed between $68,000 and $69,000.  Only in the last six months have we seen prices begin to pull back to an average price of $61,000.  In addition, the average list price of those homes currently under contract (13 homes) is only $54,000 anticipating a further decline in the average sales price. 

We have also seen a rather dramatic increase in the average days on the market (DOM) and corresponding decline in overall activity.  In 2005, there were 155 sales with the average DOM equal to 49, in 2006 there were 184 sales with 56 DOM, in 2007: 156 sales with 57 DOM, in 2008: 99 sales with 73 DOM, and the last six months saw 31 sales with 81 DOM.  Finally, today there are 78 homes still on the market with an average list price of $76,000 and 131 DOM.  Although activity has increased since the October stall, there is still potentially a years worth of inventory on the market.

Bottom Line: This could be a warning sign for Darby and the rest of Delaware County Pennsylvania.  As higher end sales prices have drifted down over the last couple years, we have continued to see strong continuous demand supporting the bottom of the market and putting a floor under these prices.  Should this floor disappear, we could experience another step down across the county.  The inability of this administration to generate any confidence in the financial markets is beginning to show up dramatically at the local level and could be a warning sign for additional problems ahead.

(All statistics from the TrendMLS system and believed accurate but not guaranteed.)