Looking to buy a home? Here are the hottest housing neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Home prices are peaking, interest rates are up and construction is down, but this still might be the right time for you to buy a home.

Our 6abc data journalist crunched the numbers and the hot housing list might surprise you - so will the advice from real estate experts.

"We're here in Fairmount-Spring Garden area, we're hoping to stay in this area," said Tim Galbraith.

Galbraith and his partner, Allan, rent in Fairmount. They've been looking to buy in the neighborhood for months.

"It's pretty tight around here in terms of inventory," he said.

This comes as no surprise to Galbraith, who runs Temple University's Real Estate Institute.

"What we really want it's like, almost just right outside of our price range so far," he said.

A new report shows home prices continue to climb. Prices in the Philadelphia metro market are up about 5.6% year to year in June, making it the market with the third highest growth rate in the country.

So where are the hottest neighborhoods overall?

Home value growth over the last year went up 21% in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. It's up 17% in Morgan Village in Camden, New Jersey.

"You can get more of a house and it's still close proximity to Philadelphia," said Maria Quattrone, CEO of Quattrone and Associates at RE/MAX@Home.

If you zero in on just Pennsylvania homes, values over the past four years more than doubled in seven Philadelphia neighborhoods, mostly in North Philadelphia.

Downtown Pottstown, Pennsylvania is seeing significant growth, too.

"But pending sales are down by 25%, solds are down by 25% and active listings are down by 15% across the metro market," she said. "That means that for some time, there's probably going to not be enough inventory."

Quattrone says prices will continue to rise. So her advice, especially for empty nesters and first-time buyers, is to evaluate your long-term goals, run the numbers and consider buying now.

"We're short five years of inventory for that entry level buyer, so it's not going to get any better for them anytime soon," she said.

Quattrone also says mortgage companies like hers are offering $5,000 toward closing costs, $500 for an appraisal and a $500 home warranty.

"In addition to that, you can also get grants either from the state or from the city of Philadelphia up to $10,000. So now you have over $16,000 in closing costs, free," she said.

Quattrone says people who have a lot of equity in their homes should also consider buying that smaller home now. The rates are going to be higher, but their payment may end up being lower if they put a lot of money down.