Why 2020 Is The Best Year To Buy A Home In Lancaster City

The future of Lancaster is bright. 

If the last decade of growth isn’t enough proof of that, then everything planned for the start of the 2020s should be. A little city perched amidst rolling farm fields is now attracting as many millennial-aged buyers as major metropolitan areas in the country. Why? Lancaster has everything you need to live a great life, but as more people begin to catch onto that fact, the value of the area will continue to rise. 

Just a few years ago, a buyer could purchase a rehabbed home in Chestnut Hill for under $200k. Now, that price tag is typically over $300k — and that’s just Chestnut Hill. Areas like the East Side and Cabbage Hill have seen prices double in the same amount of time. If that’s discouraging, it shouldn’t be. Purchasing a property here is still relatively affordable, and is a sound investment when recent growth trends are taken into consideration. 

There are many reasons that Lancaster is the perfect place to live, and more importantly, the perfect place to lay roots or invest in the coming year, and these are just a few of them. 

Food & drink culture

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a city under 100,000 in population that has a food and drink culture as strong as Lancaster. Our restaurants and cafés have been covered by national press outlets like The New York Times, The New York Post and The Baltimore Sun, and it’s a testament to the sheer quality of what’s being created here. Within a few mile radius, we have everything from Vietnamese to Italian food, all of which is second-to-none. Coffee roasters and their associated shops such as Square One and Passenger have a cult following. It’s a makers culture here, and that’s shown in nearly every restaurant that you eat in.

Accessibility 

Part of the magic of Lancaster is the walkability. Those aforementioned restaurants and coffee shops are within close proximity of one another. The city is condensed, which makes everything from entertainment at places that are more centralized, like Tellus360 or Decades, to dining at places on the farthest corners of the city, like The Horse Inn, more accessible than most cities would allow. Sprinkled in-between are all of your friends, family, and the community at large, which is another major selling point of living in Lancaster.

On a broader scale, Lancaster’s geographic location can’t be beat. It’s a brief train ride to Philadelphia, New York, and DC, with many residents working as expats of those larger metropolitan areas. Most people in Lancaster City can walk from their house to the train station, and within an hour, be in downtown Philadelphia without having to step foot in a car. Whether this connects them to more career opportunities, culture or extended family, that accessibility is key, and has in no small part helped fuel the growth of downtown. 

History

We old as hell. I’m kidding, but we are. Lancaster is the oldest inland city in the country, and is technically older than the United States, as it was founded prior to the country gaining independence from Great Britain. Be this as it is, many historical sites are still available to be visited today, such as Revolutionary War barracks downtown, sites of the Underground Railroad, or President James Buchanan’s home. We have the oldest running farmer’s market in the country, and many of the homes downtown originate from that time. 

Affordability 

On top of Lancaster being an old and super cool city with an amazing food scene, it also comes with a very attractive price tag, especially when compared to our neighboring sister cities of Philadelphia or D.C. The price of homes here are significantly less than those areas, and that is attracting buyers who are not only investing in the area, but are also relocating from larger metropolitan areas in swaths. It’s undeniable that the quality of life one can attain here is unmatched, while still being able to benefit from all of the charms of a downtown area. Small cities overall are on the rise, as people are discovering the unique lifestyle available to them there.

Though prices have invariably risen as the city has developed, we are still very much in our beginning phases. They say that the best time to plant a tree or buy a house was 10 years ago, and the second best time is today. The same is very true for Lancaster. There’s never been a better time to get in and grow with this rapidly expanding utopia.

By: Stephen Boyd