Holiday Slowdown? Not for Home Buyers in Metro Chicago Real Estate Market; RE/MAX Reports Strong Sales, Rising Prices during Final Month of 2013
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) January 17, 2014 -- Chicago-area home buyers didn’t let the holiday season distract them from purchasing a new home. RE/MAX reports that during the final month of 2013, home sales in the seven-county metro Chicago real estate market totaled 8,053 units, 9 percent more than during the same month last year, while the median sales price was $178,000, an impressive 17 percent higher than in December 2012.
The average time a home sold in December spent on the market before going under contract was 101 days, or 37 days less than a year earlier. Meanwhile, the inventory of homes listed for sale continued to tighten, falling to 29,140 homes at the end of December, or 17 percent less than at the end of 2012. The RE/MAX analysis is based on home-sale data gathered by MRED LLC, the regional multiple listing service.
Sales of distressed properties, which include foreclosures and short sales, accounted for 36 percent of December sales this year compared to 45 percent last year. Foreclosures made up 26 percent of all home sales. The average market time for a foreclosure was 86 days, and the median sales price of $91,151 was 20 percent higher than in December 2012.
Home sales activity increased in six of the seven metro counties, with Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will registering gains in total sales of attached and detached homes during December.
Sales activity was especially strong in two areas, DuPage County, where closed transactions rose 16 percent to 939 units, and the City of Chicago, which registered a 14 percent increase in sales to 2,098 units. In both cases, strong sales were accompanied by a substantial increase in home values. The median sales price in DuPage for December was $216,000, 17 percent more than a year earlier. In Chicago, the median sales price of $210,000 represented a 14 percent increase.
In Cook County as a whole, including Chicago, sales activity rose 10 percent to 4,667 units and the median price climbed 17 percent to $175,000.
Results for the five other counties were as follows: Sales in Kane County totaled 538 units, a gain of 6 percent, and the median price was $175,500, up 24 percent. Sales in Kendall County fell 10 percent to 155 units, while the median sales price rose 23 percent to $178,000. In Lake County, sales increased 15 percent to 795 units and the median price was $185,000, up 19 percent. McHenry County sales rose 1 percent to 348 units, and the $150,000 median sales price was up 8 percent. Will County had 611 sales, a gain of 3 percent, and the median price rose 0.4 percent to $156,100.
Attached Homes
Buyer interest in attached homes continued the strong growth that was evident through most of 2013. The median sales price of $150,000 was up a robust 22 percent from its level in December 2012, the greatest monthly increase recorded in 2013. Closed transactions in the attached segment totaled 2,918 units, up 7 percent from a year earlier. Average market time was 97 days, down from 137 days in the prior December.
The county-by-county results for attached home sales, comparing December 2013 with December 2012, are as follows:
Cook – Closed sales were up 7 percent at 2,062 units. The median sales price gained 27 percent to $177,250. In Chicago, 1,192 homes sold last month, an increase of 12 percent. The median price was $270,000, up 15 percent.
DuPage – Closed sales totaled 318 homes, a 7 percent increase. The median price was $125,000, up 16 percent.
Kane – Closed sales totaled 107 units, a 10 percent increase. The median price was $120,000, up 10 percent.
Kendall – Closed sales were down 26 percent to 41 units. The median sales price was $107,000, up 31 percent.
Lake – Closed sales totaled 182 units, a 10 percent increase. The median price was $149,770, up 38 percent.
McHenry – Closed sales increased 15 percent to 75 units. The median price was $110,000, up 19 percent.
Will – Closed sales were up 15 percent to 133 homes. The median price was $122,900, up 12 percent.
Detached Homes
There were 5,135 sales of detached homes in the seven-county area during December, an increase of 10 percent from the same month in 2012. The median sales price rose 13 percent to $190,000. Average market time fell to 104 days from 140 days a year earlier.
The county-by-county results for detached home sales, comparing December 2013 with December 2012, are as follows:
Cook – Closed sales were 11 percent higher at 2,605 units. The median sales price was up 14 percent to $175,000. In Chicago, 906 homes sold last month, a 15 percent increase. The median price was $160,000, up 16 percent.
DuPage – Closed sales totaled 621 homes, a 21 percent gain. The median price was $276,000, up 15 percent.
Kane – Closed sales totaled 431 units, a 5 percent increase. The median price was $195,000, up 21 percent.
Kendall – Closed sales fell 3 percent to 114 units. The median sales price was $208,500, up 16 percent.
Lake – Closed sales totaled 613 units, a 17 percent increase. The median price was $210,000, up 20 percent.
McHenry – Closed sales fell 2 percent to 273 units. The median price was $175,000, up 13 percent.
Will – Closed sales were unchanged at 478 units. The median price was $171,950, down 2 percent.
RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network, with headquarters in Elgin, Ill., consists of 2,000 sales associates and 100 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of residential and commercial brokerage services. Its http://www.illinoisproperty.com provides comprehensive information about the network and about residential and commercial property for sale in the region. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX, LLC, a global real estate organization with 90,000+ sales associates in 90+ nations.
Laura Ortoleva, RE/MAX Northern Illinois, http://www.illinoisproperty.com, +1 (847) 428-4200 Ext: 224, [email protected]
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