The Block ReportBlockReport

House report

640 Union St

Vacant · assessed $43K · sold 1×. On the 600 block of Union St.

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

Property summary

Assessment$43KCity assessed value Last sale$11KRecorded 2018 Est. taxes$603/yearAnnual city record Permits0Shown 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

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.

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
$43K
Price / sq ft
—
block $128 ·
Appreciation
+344%
+15%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$43K
+15%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$603
1.4% effective
Gross yield
—
Times sold
1

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

$0$125K$250KBefore this chart — 2011: Demolished2018: Sold $11K$43K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit

The paper trail

Improved

Bought for $11K in 2018.

  1. 2011 DemolishedTeardown
  2. 2018 $11KSold

Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).

Run the numbers

What owning 640 Union 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.

$43K
20%
6.875%
$700/mo

When this house last sold (2018) a 30-year mortgage ran about 4.54% — 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.

Block context

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

See the whole block →

Next door: 638 Union St  ·  642 Union 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)