South Philly Review

In November, Gerald Ross was watching CNBC when a story came on about the housing market. Viewers were told to visit the channel’s Web site to see the hottest ZIP codes in the country.

Ross and numerous others found two were local — 19145 and 19148 had made the list. These two of the area’s four ZIP codes that also includes 19147 and 19146 span Tasker Street south to the Navy Yard, which has its own ZIP code, 19112. The east-west boundaries for ’45 and ’48 cover the Schuylkill to Delaware rivers. Neighborhoods included in the hot zones — were deemed so based on having the biggest year-over-year price increases and, thus, defying the national trend of lower home costs — are the lower parts of Point Breeze, Girard Estate, West Passyunk, Pennsport and Whitman.

Not only did two of the area’s codes make the list of 15 places in the United States, 19145 came in second, just behind Fayetteville, N.C.’s, 28306, with 19148 in third.

With the ailing economy and housing market having been in a downward spiral since 2008, much of the local area is holding its own and in many cases enjoying an increase in sales during these times of foreclosures and stalled sales.

“Most of the areas of South Philadelphia have gone up, whereas other parts of the city have not done so well. South Philadelphia has been very stable and gone up,” Ross, who lives on the 1800 block of South 18th Street and dabbles in real estate, including buying, rehabbing and selling, houses, said.

CNBC’s source was www.zillow.com, a national real estate authority and a site Ross and Sarah Schneider, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Center City and a 22-year resident of 16th and Wolf streets, are familiar with.

“I’m not at all surprised because I think South Philadelphia has some of the best home values in the city — and the entire country. I think these neighborhoods benefit because they offer affordable housing close to all the amenities of Center City, yet they’re tucked away and off the beaten path from all the hurly-burly,” Schneider said.

Added Ross, “I wasn’t really shocked because I had noticed from Zillow reports all [last] year with Point Breeze being up 56 [then], 70 percent. I could not find another area of the country that was up that much. It was just very encouraging,” Ross, whose primary job is optometrist at Spectrum Eyecare, 1622 Oregon Ave., told the Review.

South Philly was in good company with the likes of Cleveland, Ohio; Newark, N.J.; New Orleans; Rochester, N.Y.; and Hope Mills, N.C.

Zillow’s criteria for making the list was twofold: affordable housing prices and growth, the latter meaning sales. With data recorded through Jan. 31, ’10, Point Breeze fared the best out of both local ZIPs with a $99,000 median list price; $84,500 sale price; and a 38.2-percent increase in sales to Jan. 31.

“Point Breeze has been the highest appreciating part of the city for at least a year now,” Ross noted.

Another ’48 neighborhood, Girard Estate, was up 3.4 percent with a $150,000 median list price and $140,000 sale price. Despite the increases, some neighborhoods in the ’48 ZIP code did not rank so well. Marconi Plaza/Packer Park dropped 11.7 percent with a median list price of $339,900 and sale price of $309,000.

Over in ’45, Pennsport/Whitman and the lower part of Queen Village enjoyed a 1.5-percent jump in sales with a $219,900 median list price and $171,800 selling price.

The other two local codes — ’46 and ’47 — that cover neighborhoods north of Tasker, including Bella Vista, almost all of Queen Village, Grays Ferry and the upper portion of Point Breeze didn’t make the cut. Ross attributes the growth in ’45 and ’48 to two things:

“Location, location, location. We are 15 to 20 minutes from everything you would want to do in Philadelphia. You have the airport, the zoo, the [Philadelphia Art] Museum, the interstates accessibility. It’s so convenient. Secondly, I think pricing pressure coming from the two northern ZIP codes, ’46 and ’47, which is very, very high. And, of course, Center City is insane. The prices have just gotten so high, people have been drawn south,” the doctor said.

When Ross bought his home on the 1800 block of South 18th Street near McClellan Street in ’05, the area had not been christened what it’s commonly called today, Newbold. The latter designation takes in 18th to Broad streets and Passyunk to Washington avenues.

His 2,500-square-foot abode, built circa the late 1880s, was a gem with a lot of the original architectural elements. The North Carolina native has since put a lot of work into the place, increasing its value, but not nearly as much as two rehabs he’s done on his block. The way Ross sees it, by working on dwellings in his neighborhood, he’s increasing property values for everybody.

“It makes the neighborhood better,” he said.