Report: Local Market Great for Home Buyers

By Natalie Wise

New data released from Zillow reveals that Philadelphia is among the top 10 best markets across the country for home buyers.

Houses in buyer's markets typically stay on the market for a long time, have a history of selling much lower than asking price and also have a higher percentage of price cuts.

"Our analysis shows many home sellers are thriving in the Bay Area, San Antonio and Los Angeles metro areas, where price cuts are sparse and homes often sell at or near their asking price," Zillow stated. "On the other end of the spectrum, the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Tampa metros are buyer's markets, with homes taking longer to sell, less competition in the marketplace and more room for bargaining on prices."

Of the 35 largest metros in Zillow's Buyer-Seller Index, the top buyer's markets are mostly in the Midwest and the East. A scale of 0 to 10 is used for the index, with higher numbers representing buyer's markets and lower numbers representing seller's markets.

Philadelphia is the No. 2 buyer's market city with a score of 7.55. Homes in the Philadelphia area typically spent 118 days on the market and 36.7 percent of homes had a price cut.

The top city for buyers is Cleveland with a score of 8.23. Tampa, No. 3, has a score of 6.40. No. 4 Chicago has a score of 5.86.

Pittsburgh landed in the middle of the list at No. 5 with a score of 5.78. No. 6 city Cincinnati has a score of 5.18.
New York City is a surprising No. 7, and Detroit, Baltimore and St. Louis complete the top 10 buyer's markets.

The best market to sell a home within days – often with multiple offers – is San Jose, Calif., which has a score of 0.03. San Francisco, San Antonio, Los Angeles and Seattle are also among the top markets for sellers.