The Block ReportBlockReport

House report

640 N 5th St

3 bd · 3 stories · 2,386 sqft · RSA5 · built 2016

Absentee individual · assessed $634K. On the 600 block of N 5th St.

Street view of 640 N 5th St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

Assessment$634KCity assessed value Last sale$167KRecorded 2015 Est. taxes$2K/yearAnnual city record Permits1Shown in this report ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases

What stands out

From the public record

What to do with this

The record, translated into moves — what a buyer, the owner, and a landlord would each want to check next under Philadelphia's actual rules.

If you’re buying

The tax bill is temporary

Today's $1,776/yr reflects a 10-year abatement. It jumps to about $8,879/yr in 2028 — $7,103/yr more. Price the full bill, not the current one.

Zoned RSA5: one household by right

Single-family rowhouse (the classic Philly row). Converting to a duplex or apartments needs a use variance the zoning board rarely grants — Pennsylvania courts require a physical hardship of the lot itself, and economics alone do not qualify.

If you’re the landlord

Licensed rental — keep it that way

Renewal requires city tax clearance and zero open L&I violations on the property. A lapsed license suspends the right to collect rent or evict.

Derived from this house's public records and the city's rules as of 2026 (abatement ordinance, Homestead, rental licensing, lead certification, L&I process, excavation protections). Informational only — not legal, tax, or investment advice.

The investment read

How this house has moved and where it's pointed: the city's assessed value (not a listing price) over 12 years, charted against its block; appreciation is that history's pace, and the 5-year figure simply extends it. Yield estimates rent-vs-price from area rents. Ask the record to dig into any number.

Assessed value
$634K
built 2016
Price / sq ft
$266
block $307 · below block
Appreciation
+434%
+18%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$640K
+18%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$2K
0.28% effective, abated
Gross yield
3.9%
≈$2K/mo rent
Times sold
0
licensed rental

Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line

$0$500K$1.0M2017: Mechanical$634K201720222027
This houseBlock median & rangePermit

The paper trail

New construction

built new under a 2017 permit (tax-abated).

  1. 2017 MechanicalPermit

Flags: tax-abated — the bill lags real value · active rental license. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).

The abatement clock

This house pays about $1,776/yr under a 10-year tax abatement. In 2028 the bill reaches its full ~$8,879/yr — a step up of $7,103/yr, 1 assessment year out. Drag the slider.

2017: ~$1,663/yr2018: ~$3,958/yr2019: ~$2,209/yr2020: ~$2,283/yr2021: ~$2,283/yr2022: ~$2,283/yr2023: ~$2,003/yr2024: ~$2,003/yr2025: ~$2,061/yr2026: ~$2,061/yr2027: ~$1,776/yr2028: ~$8,879/yr (projected)2029: ~$8,879/yr (projected)201720282029
2027~$1,776/yrfrom the record

now: ($634,300 assessed − $507,425 abated) × 1.3998% ≈ $1,776/yr 2028: $634,300 assessed × 1.3998% ≈ $8,879/yr Flat 100% exemption (pre-2022 program, started 2018), then the cliff — reassessments move both lines. After expiry an owner-occupant can claim the Homestead Exemption (~$1,400/yr off); an abated home can't hold both.

The house, on paper

The city assessor's field record — the physical spec sheet behind the assessed number.

Bedrooms
3
Stories
3
Interior
2,386 sqft
livable area
Lot
656 sqft
Basement
Full, finished
city code A
Heat
Forced hot air
city code A
Central air
Yes
Garage
1 space
Exterior condition
Above average
city code 3
Interior condition
Above average
city code 3
Quality grade
B+
assessor's grade
Zoning
RSA5
city zoning code

OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.

Run the numbers

What owning 640 N 5th St takes, at your price and your rate. Taxes are this house's actual bill from the city record; rent starts at the area median. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.

$634K
20%
6.875%
$2K/mo

When this house last sold (2015) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.85% — Freddie Mac's average that year.

Mortgage
—
P&I · 30-yr fixed
All-in monthly
—
+ taxes & insurance
Cash to close
—
down + ~4% costs
Cash flow
—
rent − all costs · /mo
Cap rate
—
NOI ÷ price
Cash-on-cash
—
year-1 return on cash in

Estimates for orientation, not advice. Assumes a 30-year fixed loan, $1,400/yr insurance, 1% of price/yr maintenance; taxes from this parcel's record (with the abatement toggle above).

Block context

640 N 5th St sits on the 600 block of N 5th St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 638 N 5th St  ·  642 N 5th St

Where this comes from

Methodology & freshness

City datasets are fetched live from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and cached briefly. Dossiers re-pull automatically — on view once they're a few weeks old, plus a nightly rolling sweep — and citywide benchmarks recompute weekly. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.

Official city record ↗  ·  L&I history ↗  ·  See the whole block  ·  Download this record (JSON)