Good news y’all – the market seems to be on the upswing (including mortgage rates). When reviewing the numbers for a handful of school districts in Chester County, that is the picture that is being painted. Whether the positive direction will be sustained or not, is a different question. That remains to be seen. This report looks at the Downingtown, West Chester, Coatesville, Great Valley, Octorara School Districts and compairs the first quarter numbers for 2010 to the first quarter numbers of 2009
The Numbers:
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Downingtown School District:
Overall, home sales in the Downingtown School District look strong. The number of sales were up 26%, along with overall volume of sales at 20%. Even the days on the market were down by 11%. The only downside in this district was the sale price. The average sale price dropped by 5%. In saying that, it should be understood that there is not a direct correlation between home value and average sale price, necessarily. The Downingtown area is a very strong area for home sales with a great district, taxes being fair and home prices not being too high.
West Chester School District
Sales in the West Chester School District were also good, though not as good as Downingtown. The number of sales were up 11%, with the dollar volume of sales increasing only 4%. The average sale price in the West Chester School District also decreased by 6% to $352,117. One of the best points of what happened is that the Days on the Market decreased by 17%. Homes were selling much quicker in West Chester, and even though average sale price decreased, it’s a good report for West Chester.
Great Valley School District
Consisting of only 3 townships, the Great Valley School District is not as big as the other districts, therefore it’s numbers aren’t quite as comparable. In addition, the average sale price is typically about $100,000 more than the average in Chester County. So while the number of sales were down 12% from last year, first quarter, the average sale price was up 16%. This led to the overall volume being almost the same, with a 2% increase. The big negative here is that it took 28% longer to sell a home this year in the first quarter, than last. That is mostly due to the price point for the Great Valley School District, which is significantly higher.
Coatesville School District
The Coatesville School District has really gotten an unfair reputation and as a result, the home sales in that area have probably taken the biggest beating of all the districts in Chester County. Many say that taxes in that area are just too high. But if you look more closely, you will see that they are not that much higher. That’s a report we will be tackling next, is comparing real estate taxes in Chester County. With that said, the Coatesville School District pretty much had a very similar first quarter of 2010 as they did in 2009. The number of sales were up 5%, along with the dollar volume. In addition, the average sale price pretty much stayed the same, with the days on market decreasing by 2%
Octorara School District
Last, but not least, let’s look at the Octorara School District. This is definitely the most rural of the school districts we look at, and therefore the activity is much less and lends itself to much more dramatic changes in statistics. Overall activity was up 50% from a year ago, with volume increasing 88% and the average sale price increasing 21%. The only negative is that the days on the market increased by 26%.
Big Picture in Chester County
Overall, Chester County had a good first quarter for 2010. The activity was up (6%), dollar volume was up (11%), along with average sale price (5%). Even the days on market were down by 6%. The numbers for the 2nd quarter will most likely show a significant increase in activity, only a slight increase in sale price and most likely a drop in days on market.
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