Real Estate
This chapter explores real estate characteristics, including residential construction, housing sale prices, nonresidential construction, office market conditions, industrial market conditions, and retail market conditions.
Housing Construction and Sales
Chester County Planning Commission completes an annual report on housing sales and construction, pulling from Assessment data. For detailed housing data visit the 2024 Chester County Housing Cost Profile.
Non-Residential Construction
The Chester County Planning Commission completes and annual report on new non-residential construction, including both additions and new buildings. For the full report visit the 2024 Non-Residential Construction Report.
Office Building Market
Chester County has a strong office market, although the vacancy rate of 11.3 percent is high.
The Philadelphia area office market is reasonably strong, with rents at $31.62 a square foot per year. Much of Chester County is part of the Philadelphia market, making it an attractive location for companies looking to expand or relocate.
Overall, Chester County has a large and competitive office market, with concentrations of offices in Chesterbrook, the Main Line, Great Valley/Malvern, the West Chester area, and Exton/Lionville. There are also scattered offices in developed parts of southern, western, and northern Chester County. These offices are typically owner-occupied. Like Montgomery County, Chester County has a relatively high vacancy rate. Some of this vacancy is due to the many offices built in the 1980s and 1990s that are now being retrofitted and modernized to address demand for new technology and collaborative work environments. The office vacancy rate has been increasing, at least partially due to changes caused by COVID-19 and people working from home
Neighboring Lancaster County to the West has a different, generally more agricultural and industrial economic market. This is reflected in the lower overall square footage, rents, and vacancy rates than both Chester County and the Philadelphia MSA.
Figure 65 — Office Building Characteristics, July 2025
Source: CoStar
Figure 66 — Historical Office Building Characteristics
Source: CoStar
Retail Building Market
Chester County's retail primarily serves local community needs.
The retail market in Southeastern PA is dominated by Montgomery County and Philadelphia, with the other counties in the region primarily having smaller malls and shopping centers that are focused on community needs. Chester County falls into a community-focused retail category, with retail centers scattered around major population hubs. Exton is the largest retail area for the county. Chester County is surrounded by major shopping areas to the north, east, and south, including King of Prussia, the Route 422 Corridor with its outlets and new centers, Concordville in Delaware County, and malls and shopping centers near Wilmington.
Chester County's 2025 vacancy was significantly higher than other Southeast Pennsylvania counties at 5.4 percent, despite average rental prices being in the mid-range for the area.
Figure 67 — Retail Building Characterisics, July 2025
Source: CoStar
Figure 68 — Historical Retail Building Characteristics
Source: CoStar
Industrial Building Market
Chester County has a varied industrial market, with the highest rents in the region, and vacancy at the higher end for Southeast PA.
The industrial market remains an important part of the Philadelphia region's commercial real estate sector. Over time, industrial uses have shifted from heavy industry to lighter industrial and manufacturing, although some heavy industry remains, such as steel production in South Coatesville and Coatesville. Much of Chester County’s modern industrial space is advanced manufacturing, such as medical products, pharmaceuticals, and other specialized manufacturing. Industrial uses are spread around the county, with major concentrations of newer buildings in corporate parks, including ones in Exton, West Chester, and Lionville. Around the country, mega-warehouses have been a major driver of new industrial construction, but, locally, these warehouses have mostly been locating in south-central PA, the Lehigh Valley, and southern New Jersey. Chester County has not had major new warehouse space delivered recently, which could be due to the county’s price of land and relative lack of interstate highway interchanges; however, construction has begun on new warehouses near the Route 100 and PA Turnpike interchange.
Figure 69 — Industrial Building Characteristics, July 2025
Source: CoStar
Figure 70 — Historical Industrial Building Characteristics
Source: CoStar
