Like the Weather, Metro Chicago Real Estate Market Cooled Down Only Slightly in September, RE/MAX Reports
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) October 15, 2013 -- September is traditionally the month when both air temperatures and housing market activity retreat from their summer highs, but that wasn’t exactly the case this year. The Chicago area enjoyed balmy weather, and the metropolitan Chicago real estate market continued to flex its muscles. Matched against results for the prior September, the median home sales price last month rose 16 percent, and the number of home sales increased 26 percent, according to RE/MAX.
Those gains compare to year-over-year increases in the median sales price of 18 percent in August and 19 percent in July, while the number of homes sold climbed 25 percent in August and 36 percent in July.
Home sales in the seven-county metro Chicago market totaled 9,469 units in September, up from 7,508 units a year earlier. The median sales price for the month was $185,000, up from $160,000 a year ago. The average number of days that a listed property spent on the market before going under contract for sale was 97 days, a considerably faster sales pace than the 137 days recorded last September.
Inventory of detached and attached homes for sale expanded in September for the fifth consecutive month, totaling 35,356 properties. That is the largest inventory for any month this year and equaled a 3.7 month supply of homes based on the pace of sales in September. That is down from a six-month supply a year earlier. The RE/MAX analysis is based on sales data gathered by MRED LLC, the regional multiple listing service.
Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) made up 31 percent of all homes sold in September, down from 41 percent in September of last year.
Across the metro area, both total September sales and the median sales price rose in all seven counties compared to a year earlier, and gains ranged from slight to quite substantial. The largest gain in median sales price came in Kane County, where the increase was 26 percent to a median of $170,000.
For the six other counties the increases are as follows: Cook up 19 percent to $185,000, DuPage up 10 percent to $220,000, Kendall up 10 percent to $170,000, Lake up 2 percent to $188,000, McHenry up 7 percent to $155,000 and Will up 8 percent to $170,000. In the City of Chicago, the median sales price climbed 18 percent to $231,000.
As for closed transaction volume, the top two counties are Lake, where sales activity rose 43 percent to 936 units, and DuPage, where 1,159 homes were sold, a 34 percent increase. Results for the other counties are: Cook up 25 percent to 5,333 units, Kane up 16 percent to 638 units, Kendall up 3 percent to 197 units, McHenry up 25 percent to 422 units and Will up 26 percent to 783 units. Sales in Chicago rose 24 percent to 2,361 units.
Average market times ranged from a low of 73 days in Kendall County to a high of 107 days in McHenry County.
Sales of Detached Homes
There were 5,998 sales of detached homes closed during September, which was 29 percent more than in the same month last year. The median sales price climbed 13 percent to $204,150 and the average market time was 98 days, compared to 137 days a year earlier.
The county-by-county results for detached home sales, comparing September 2013 with September 2012, are as follows:
Cook – Closed sales were 28 percent higher, with 2,933 units sold. The median sales price gained 17 percent to $187,000. In Chicago, which is part of Cook County, 935 homes were sold, an increase of 28 percent, with the median price up 21 percent to $175,000.
DuPage – Detached home sales totaled 741 units, representing a 33 percent increase. The median price was $289,000, a gain of 11 percent.
Kane – Closed sales totaled 504 units, a 17 percent increase. The median price was up 28 percent to $200,000.
Kendall -- Sales activity increased 14 percent to 147 units; the median sales price climbed 13 percent to $204,000.
Lake – Home purchases totaled 744 units, a 53 percent increase. The median price was up 4 percent to $229,950.
McHenry – Sales activity rose 23 percent to 332 units. The median price increased 6 percent to $176,000.
Will – Sales of 596 homes represented a 23 percent increase. The median price climbed 9 percent to $193,100.
Sales of Attached Homes
Prices of attached homes (primarily condominium apartments and townhouses) continued to gain substantial ground in September, with the median sales price rising to $154,000 for the entire metro Chicago area, 18 percent higher than in the same month last year. Unit sales climbed 22 percent to 3,471, and the average market time was 96 days, compared to 140 days a year earlier.
September results for each of the metro counties are as follows:
Cook – Transactions increased 21 percent, with 2,400 units changing hands. The median sales price rose 22 percent to $188,000. In Chicago, 1,426 attached homes were sold, a 22 percent increase, and the median sales price rose 19 percent to $272,750.
DuPage – Closed sales totaled 418 units, a 34 percent increase. The median price climbed to $132,000, a gain of 17 percent.
Kane – Closed sales increased 13 percent to 134 units. The median price rose 15 percent to $125,000.
Kendall -- Sales activity declined 21 percent to 50 units; the median price rose 21 percent to $105,000.
Lake – Closed sales totaled 192 units, a 14 percent increase. The median price was up 15 percent to $130,500.
McHenry – Sales activity increased 34 percent to 90 units. The median price climbed 10 percent to $110,000.
Will – Sales of 187 units represented a 38 percent increase, with the median price up 10 percent to $135,000.
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 and http://www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. The http://www.global.remax.com website allows consumers to search properties around the globe; http://www.theremaxcollection.com is a specialized portal of luxury properties across the U.S., and http://www.remaxcommercial.com displays commercial properties available nationwide and abroad. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 91,000 sales associates in 90+ nations. The RE/MAX organization has been recognized for numerous industry honors for excellence, and its Associates continue to lead the industry in professional designations, experience and production. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX. RE/MAX is the official real estate partner of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the national sponsor of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
Laura Ortoleva, RE/MAX Northern Illinois, http://www.illinoisproperty.com, +1 (847) 428-4200 224, [email protected]
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