Conshohocken thrives on its location at the crossroads of 76 and 476. Just how key is the location? In West Conshohocken a developer built 32 townhomes just off the exit and the entire development sold out in six months for over $300,000 each. This demand has bolstered several other developers and townhome communities are in varying stages of the approval or construction process on both sides of the river.
“Conshohocken offers you the opportunity to live in a great location, plus enjoy all the dining and activities,” says realtor Mike Sroka. “It is not uncommon to have homes sell quickly and have multiple offers.”
What realtors, and Borough officials, have been discovering is that there isn’t enough inventory of single homes for people who have lived in an apartment, condo or townhome, and love Conshohocken, but desire more space.
“People want to stay in Conshohocken,” says Sroka. “For the past decade, Conshohocken has been considered this great place you live in your 20s and 30s, then you get married, have a kid and move to Lafayette Hill, Collegeville, Blue Bell or Wayne. We are now finding that people want to stay. But there is a lack of inventory.”
Encouraged by the borough, developers have been responding to the need for more single homes and a handful of new construction single homes have recently hit the market with a listing price hovering over $500,000. While long-time residents of the borough are shocked to see half million dollar homes on their block, realtors have been anticipating the increase in home values. Last year realtors Matt Mittman and Eric Rehling of Re/Max Ready published a video blog asking whether the price would eventually top $600,000.
While nearby communities felt the impact of the housing crisis, Conshohocken’s real estate market was left mostly unscathed. “Conshohocken survived the housing crisis because the demand stayed consistent,” says Sroka. “Conshy was never flooded with inventory. The demand was high and property values didn’t waver. The location was the key.”
JP Hussey of the Conshy-based Mortgage Network agrees with Sroka. “Nationally, we’ve seen a roller coaster effect with home values, but locally, focusing in the Conshohocken footprint, has not been as volatile,“ says Hussey. “Furthermore we’ve seen values either hold or slightly increase here. As always, with as much as Conshy has to offer, more people want to call it their hometown.”
