Dwindling Inventory of Listings Constrained October Home Sales in Metro Chicago Area Even as Pace of Activity and Median Price Increased, RE/MAX Reports

CHICAGO, Nov. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A dwindling inventory of homes for sale continued to shape results in the metro Chicago real estate market during October, RE/MAX reports. Compared to the same month last year, 10 percent fewer homes were for sale in October, helping reduce total homes sales in the seven-county area by 5 percent to a total of 8,693 units.

With fewer homes available, buyers acted more quickly and offered higher prices.  The October median sales price for the metro area was $219,000, up 9.5 percent from the year earlier figure of $200,000. The average time a home sold in October spent on the market before finding a buyer fell to 83 days from 90 days one year earlier. That is the shortest average for October since 2005.

"This is an outstanding market for those with a home to sell," emphasized Jack Kreider, executive vice president and regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois.  "An average market time of under 90 days puts upward pressure on prices, and we certainly saw that play out in October. The increase in mortgage interest rates since the presidential election will serve to reinforce the urgency homebuyers already feel, so we expect an active market right through the holiday season and into 2017."

The home sales data used for the RE/MAX analysis is collected by MRED, the regional multiple listing service. It covers detached and attached homes in the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Detached homes are typically stand-alone single-family dwellings. Attached homes include condominium and cooperative apartments along with townhouses. 

Home sales activity declined in five of the seven counties of metro Chicago. The most positive results were found in Kane County, where sales activity rose 8 percent and the median sales price gained 11.5 percent to $218,500.  McHenry County also turned in solid results, with sales activity and the median sales price both up 7 percent.

October's softest market was in Lake County. There, home sales fell 7 percent; the median sales price declined 4 percent and average market time increased by six days.

The median sales price rose and average market time declined in the six other metro counties as well as the City of Chicago in October. The strongest price increases outside of Kane County were in Cook and Will counties, where the median price gained 10 percent.

The most noteworthy changes in average market time were in DuPage and Kendall counties. In DuPage, the average shortened by 28 percent to 73 days, and in Kendall County the decline was 23 days to an average of 61 days.

Detached Homes

October sales of detached homes in the metro area were down 5 percent compared to the same month in 2015. The median sales price rose 8 percent to $235,000, and average market time dipped to 91 days from 96 days a year earlier.

Sales activity increased in Kane and McHenry counties, gaining 6 percent in each. The median sales price rose in six counties, with a 14 percent increase in Kane leading the way. Cook, McHenry and Will each posted a 10 percent increase. However, the City of Chicago had the greatest gain, rising 16 percent to a median of $219,000. In Lake County, the median price fell 1 percent.

Attached Homes

For attached homes, October sales were 6 percent lower in the metro area, while the median sales price gained 8 percent to $182,000, and average market time dropped to 69 days from 79 days a year earlier. Sales activity rose 19 percent in Kane and 12 percent in Lake and McHenry, but fell 7 percent in Cook, 16 percent in DuPage, 24 percent in Kendall and 0.5 percent in Will. In Chicago, sales declined 8 percent.

The median sales price rose in six counties: 17 percent in Kendall, 9 percent in Cook and Will, 5 percent in Kane and McHenry and 4 percent in DuPage.  In Lake, the median price dipped 1 percent. All seven counties reported average market times of 74 days or less. In Chicago, the median price was up 3 percent; average market time was 70 days. 

The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network, with headquarters in Elgin, Ill., consists of more than 2,300 sales associates and 106 independently owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of residential and commercial brokerage services. Its mobile real estate app, available for download at www.illinoisproperty.com, provides comprehensive information about residential and commercial property for sale in the region. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX, a global real estate organization with 110,000+ sales associates in 100+ nations. 

Contact:
Stephen Johnson
RE/MAX Northern Illinois
847-428-4200
[email protected]

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SOURCE RE/MAX Northern Illinois