Penn students trying to find cheap off-campus apartments should not expect to see much improvement in the near future.
A recent trend among realtors in West Philadelphia is to convert large Victorian-style houses, currently divided into multiple apartment units, into single luxury family homes.
In spite of these properties' proximity to the University, Penn students are not the target of the improvements. Rather, they are the result of increased demand for single family homes, said Turner.
The trend has had a visible impact on the availability of off-campus housing for Penn students.
"It already has had an impact on Penn students," Prudential Fox and Roach sales associate Elizabeth Campion said. "Apartment prices have gone up a lot."
According to Campion, each unit is allotted up to three residents. Therefore, when a six-unit house that could hold between six and 18 people is converted to a two-unit duplex, only one to six people can be housed.
"This is up to 12 people [displaced], so where are those people going?" said Campion.
According to Sharon Turner, a sales associate with Prudential Fox and Roach, several large Victorian homes in West Philadelphia are attractive property for young couples seeking to purchase their first home.
"The houses we have have been beautifully rehabbed with high quality finishes," said Turner. "People are looking into these houses because they can get a home twice as large for the same price" in this area.
Many people hoping to buy a home in the city turn to West Philadelphia due to lower costs.
"For a first time buyer, University City represents an opportunity to [own] a large, wonderful home for the same price they would pay for something much smaller in Center City," Turner said.
In addition to the increased demand for single family houses in the University City region, Campion points to another possible cause of this trend.
"In the 1960s, zoning became very liberal and they were doing anything they could to make sure West Philadelphia was still occupied," said Campion.
As a result, many amateur landlords obtained property in the area. According to Campion, many houses deteriorated to the point at which they can only be sold as renovated, conventional houses through irresponsible care.
Although converting the homes is a fairly expensive process, its popularity has increased dramatically lately.
"I have probably sold five of these in the last nine months," said Mike McCann, a broker with Prudential Fox and Roach. "Compared to 19 years and no one ever doing it, I'd say that's pretty significant."
But it appears that the off-campus housing situation will not get much worse.
"There's always a cycle where the houses are moving back and forth between multiple-unit houses to single family homes," Campion said.
She added that while current demand for single family homes is high, in the past there has been a cyclical trend of homes being changed from multiple-unit complexes back to single homes.
"Most of the effect has been [felt]," Campion said. "There are very few more houses that are going to be sold for conversion."
