With rising sales and lower prices, Ashbourne Hills and Radnor Green should remain a great home choice through 2012.

Ashbourne Hills is a nice community located just off Darley Rd in North Wilmington with a Claymont address. With over 600 homes, Ashbourne Hills contains a great mixture of split level, ranch, and colonial house styles. The community is ideally located just south of Naamans Rd, north of Harvey Rd and west of the Philadelphia Pike providing immediate access to all of North Wilmington. With easy access to both to I-95 and I-495, it is a great location for commuting into Wilmington, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.

Development in Ashbourne Hills began in the mid 1950s. Per the tax records, the earliest homes were completed in 1953 with the bulk of the construction finished by 1958. Small ranches were built  in 1954/55 along the southern portion of the development along Naamans Rd and Topaz but the large majority of homes were the popular split level design. Construction of these began in 1953 with the earliest homes being built to the north just south of Darley Rd with construction continuing south. 1954 and 1955 recorded the greatest number of completed properties. Homes ranged in size from approximately 1250 sqft to over 3000 sqft with the most popular split level model being 1775 sqft in both 3 and 4 bedroom designs.

Radnor Green is just adjacent to Ashbourne Hills to the south continuing down to Harvey Rd. This provides immediate access to I95 for easy commutes into Wilmington and throughout northern New Castle County. Radnor Green developed while Ashbourne Hills was under construction. Construction began in 1954 but the bulk of the development was built between 1956 and 1959 with construction continuing through the early 1960s.  With approximately 400 properties, many homes are quite similar to designs seen in Ashbourne Hills but over time the average size grew seeing more properties above the 2000 sqft size. There was also more balanced mix between split levels, ranches, and colonials.

The home prices and sales activity in both developments have followed much the same path seen in communities throughout the area. Prices and activity both peaked in 2006 when there were 54 sales with an average settled price of $235,000. The average home was on the market for 35 days. Sales activity fell through 2011 when there were only 15 home sales in the community but has recovered nicely in 2012 with 27 homes sold year to date. Prices have continued to fall with the average sales price in 2011 of $190,000 falling to an average price of $175,000 in 2012. The average days on the market has also risen to over 3 months.

With its great location and solid homes, both Ashbourne Hills and Radnor Green should continue to be popular choice in the future. They both offer easy commuting options into Wilmington, Philadelphia, northern Delaware, and much of southeastern PA. With an expected stronger economy, home prices may well have already bottomed earlier in 2012 and should remain steady or rise going forward. Be sure to include these communities in any home search in north Wilmington.

David Henke
Long & Foster Real Estate Inc – Bear, DE/Devon, PA
Office: 302-834-3431/Direct: 610-618-0808
www.DelawarePAHomes.com