Latest population growth trends favor Pennsylvania’s suburbs and exurbs

 By Brenda Nguyen, Veronica Miniello CoStar Analytics

The latest Census estimates reveal distinct regional population growth trends across Pennsylvania. Rural counties are lagging due to limited economic opportunities. In contrast, affordable areas near employment hubs, such as York and Cumberland counties, are attracting more residents, both from costlier urban markets and those from rural areas seeking better job prospects.

From July 2024 to July 2025, Pennsylvania added nearly 13,600 residents overall, yet a large number of residents, about 3,000, left the state. However, even amid domestic out-migration at the state level, select areas show strong residential demand.

Across the Keystone State, 41 counties posted population gains while 26 counties recorded losses, according to recent Census data. This split highlights steady population gains in the suburbs, as many residents relocate from urban cores to nearby, more affordable suburban and exurban areas close to employment hubs.

York and Cumberland counties added over 4,600 new residents

York and Cumberland counties in south-central Pennsylvania led the state’s domestic immigration, adding 2,525 and 2,124 residents, respectively. These areas benefit from accessibility to major employment hubs in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as offering established neighborhood amenities and lower housing costs than urban cores.

York County's median home sale price stands at $299,990, well below the Philadelphia metropolitan area's $373,990—according to Homes.com.

Urban core areas lose favor with existing residents

Meanwhile, the largest domestic population losses in the state are concentrated in the major urban areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

In the City of Philadelphia alone, an estimated 9,726 residents departed for other areas, including its surrounding suburbs. Yet those losses were offset by strong international immigration and elevated birth rates, which resulted in an overall population gain of 1,546 residents. The city increasingly relies on these sources to sustain residential growth amid ongoing domestic out-migration.

In Allegheny County, the largest county in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, out-migration eased to a five-year low as an estimated 2,785 residents relocated to other areas. Meanwhile, surrounding counties have gained residents from domestic migration, pushing the broader Pittsburgh market into net positive domestic migration for the first time in four years.

Rural counties in western Pennsylvania, including Erie, Cambria and Indiana counties, continue to experience domestic out-migration as the region’s job market struggles to fully recover from pandemic-era losses. A shrinking manufacturing base, an aging population, and a lack of employment opportunities have led residents in those countries to move to other areas.

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Chubb Insurance lands deal for Philadelphia office building ahead of relocation plans

By Katie Burke CoStar News

With one foot already out the door, insurance giant Chubb has sold off its soon-to-be-former Philadelphia office hub as it prepares to relocate to one of the city's newest developments.

The Zurich-based insurer finalized a deal with Extell Development for the historic Old City building at 436 Walnut St., a more than 331,350-square-foot property Chubb has owned for more than two decades. The $30 million sale lands just a few months ahead of the company's plans to move its extensive Philadelphia operations to 2000 Arch St., an 18-story development Chubb will anchor once construction wraps up later this year.

Chubb, the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, unveiled plans for the new 438,000-square-foot project back in 2022, which it is developing through a partnership with local real estate firm the Parkway Corp. Already one of the largest employers in the city, Chubb's future Arch Street space is expected to house an additional 1,250 people to the insurer's existing 3,200-person Philadelphia workforce.

The $30 million price tag for the Walnut Street property is just a bit more than the nearly $29 million Chubb paid when it acquired the building in 2004, according to local property records.

Changing spaces

Extell, a New York-based developer, has a track record that includes some of Manhattan's newest luxury residential skyscrapers, such as the 98-story Central Park Tower and One57, the condominium high-rise along Billionaire's Row.

They had pitched the Philadelphia building as a feasible residential conversion opportunity. It touted the property's "large, flexible floorplates on every floor" that would offer "an investor the opportunity for a variety of redevelopment opportunities including luxury apartments, upscale condominiums, a boutique hotel or state-of-the-art offices."

While the future of the former Chubb building has yet to be determined, any conversion would fit into a pattern unfolding across the Philadelphia area in which investors have scooped up heavily discounted properties to transform into other uses.

An overhaul of the historic Wanamaker Building in Center City, for example, is on deck after TF Cornerstone took control of the 1.4 million-square-foot property last year. The New York firm is planning to convert most of the office space at the 114-year-old building into as many as 600 residential units.

It's a playbook that has gained popularity across the United States as landlords and investors attempt to overhaul struggling office properties into newer and higher-demand uses.

“Building owners are coming to grips with the fact that some of these older properties aren’t going to be great office assets going forward,” said Tim Karp, JPMorgan Chase's head of historic tax credit equity. “We’ve seen a significant uptick in the amount of office-to-multifamily conversions.”

While Philadelphia is behind other cities across the country in terms of its conversion pipeline — Manhattan and Washington, D.C., are the leaders on that front — there has been a surge of activity over the past several years as officials streamline the permitting process and the demand for housing has outstripped that for aging office space.

Companies in the Philadelphia area handed back more than 7.6 million square feet of office space between 2019 and 2023, according to CoStar data, and rents have fallen alongside the decline in tenant demand.

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VICI Properties Sees Long-Term Growth in Experiential Real Estate (Video)

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High Street Logistics Properties completes work on warehouse in Florence, New Jersey

By Ryan Cashion Costar

Construction has been completed at 900 Richards Run, marking the delivery of a 249,600-square-foot warehouse within the Richards Run corridor near Florence, New Jersey and the I-95/Route 130 interchange.

The fully-available building was developed by High Street Logistics Properties, a private equity real estate investment management firm founded in 2002 by former senior executives of Trammell Crow Co. and based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.

According to CoStar's latest report on the Philadelphia industrial market, demand has returned this spring after a weak performance last year. Recent net absorption, the net change in occupancy, was a positive 2.3 million square feet, after falling into negative territory last year.

Burlington County in Southern New Jersey continues to lead as the region's strongest industrial submarket, accounting for 3 million square feet of positive absorption over the past year. The regional vacancy rate is expected to peak near 9.3% by mid-2026 before easing as new deliveries taper sharply and demand stabilizes.

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The $875 Billion Ticking Time Bomb in Commercial Real Estate (Video)

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Philadelphia’s medical office market hits a soft patch

 By Brenda Nguyen CoStar Analytics

Philadelphia's medical office market has entered a cooling period following several years of sustained expansion. Characterized by reduced demand, rising vacancy and decelerating rent growth, the changes signal a transitional phase for the local healthcare real estate sector.

The most visible sign of this shift is the return of negative net absorption in the fourth quarter of last year, a period in which more tenants moved out of medical office space than moved in. At the end of 2025, Philadelphia's medical office market recorded negative quarterly absorption of 260,000 square feet, bringing the trailing-four-quarter total to negative 323,660 square feet, one of the weakest performances in decades. Vacancy climbed from 8.3% in the third quarter to 9% by year-end.

Preliminary data suggests the medical-office performance is also in slightly negative or neutral territory in the first quarter of this year.

Leasing activity tells a similar story. Although approximately 757,000 square feet of medical office leases were signed over the past year, the signings have not translated into net gains in occupancy. The number of new leases fell to 80 from 100 in the prior period, and the average amount of space leased dropped 38% to 2,625 square feet. Rather than expanding, medical office tenants are prioritizing renewals, consolidations and reductions.

Major health systems, which anchored demand throughout the previous cycle, have largely suspended new commitments, removing the market's most reliable source of absorption.

What makes this shift notable is its disconnection from otherwise strong employment trends. The "eds and meds" sectors—which together account for roughly one-quarter of local jobs in the Philadelphia region—increased by 2.5%, adding 28,500 new employees over the past year. The divergence reflects a broader restructuring underway across the healthcare industry, as providers rationalize and reconfigure their real estate footprints.

Despite recent hiccups, the pullback remains limited in scale, and the sector's underlying fundamentals point toward continued long-term growth. As major health systems complete their operational restructuring, the region's medical office demand should stabilize and begin to strengthen.

The region's aging population and continued healthcare employment growth together form a durable, long-term demand base—one that positions Philadelphia's medical office market well for the cycle ahead, after it gets through this soft patch.

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Luxury apartments inject new life into struggling Center City commercial area

 By Dion Haynes, Emily Damus

Like many urban commercial areas across the country, Center City in Philadelphia struggled in the COVID and hybrid work eras when large portions of its customer base worked from home. Office vacancies reached record highs as tenants relocated to smaller quarters to save money.

By converting a vacant 18-story office into luxury apartments, Alterra Property Group created a new customer base with hundreds of new residents for shops and restaurants in the area that largely had been governed by a 9-to-5 culture.

The development 17 Market West is Philadelphia’s largest post-pandemic office-to-residential conversion, transforming a 305,000-square-foot landmark from 1957 into a 299-unit luxury residential property.

The transformation was recognized as redevelopment of the year in Philadelphia as part of the 2026 CoStar Impact Awards, which were judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.

The project "reflects the important role adaptive reuse can play in the future of cities, particularly in Center City Philadelphia and along the Market West corridor," Connor Burke, principal of Alterra Property Group, said in an email. "By thoughtfully transforming an empty office building into housing, we are bringing new residents, retailers, energy, and activity to the area while supporting the long-term vibrancy of the neighborhood."

Property management is provided by APG Living, an affiliate of Alterra Property Group. Preleasing strategy involved internet listing services, social media, video content and paid search advertising.

About the project: 17 Market West is a luxury apartment building in Center City Philadelphia with one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 553 square feet to 1,390 square feet. The building is connected to SEPTA's Suburban Station, a regional underground commuter rail line, and nearby office buildings.

What the judges said: "Beautiful adaptive reuse for an aging office building," said Gina Lavery, executive vice president of Econsult Solutions.

"The transformation of 1701 Market Street, a formerly struggling office building is now bringing a post 9-5 life to the CBD and Market Street corridor, as the site is transformed into a luxury apartment building," said Nadia Bilynsky, principal at MPN Realty.

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