CHICAGO—Statewide home sales continued at a relatively retrained pace in February, but median prices made a double-digit annual gain, marking 30 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases, according to data from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®.
"Sellers should definitely be motivated by this market," says Jim Kinney, president of the realtors association and vice president for luxury sales at Baird & Warner in Chicago. "The lower inventories and relatively short time it takes to sell a home are indicators that the housing market is quite robust entering into the busy spring season."
Statewide home sales were down slightly in the past month. In February, 7,865 homes were sold, down 1.7% from last February when only 8,004 homes were sold. But the statewide median price in February 2015 shot up to $149,900. Last February the median price was $132,500. Median prices have increased annually every month in Illinois since September 2012, according to the realtors.
But a shrunken housing inventory remains a factor with 59,042 homes available for sale, a 4.8% decline compared to last February. And the time it took to sell a home was slightly higher at 91 days compared to 88 a year ago.
“Spring has come earlier than the weather to the housing market with solid gains in prices even with slight declines in monthly and year-over-year sales,” says Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “Home buyers seem to be differentiating between regular and foreclosed homes for sale with the former gaining increasing shares of sales over the last year and thus propelling the increase in median prices in both Illinois and Chicago.”
In the nine-county metropolitan area, home sales, including condominiums, last month totaled 5,611, a decrease of 1.3% from the 5,683 sales in February 2014. And the median price in February in the region was $175,000, up 12.5% from $155,600 in February 2014.
The city of Chicago saw sales of 1,448 homes last month, up 3.9% from last year. The median price of a home in Chicago was $212,000, up 21.1% over February 2014.
“Chicago's spring buying season is starting strong. In a sign of buyer confidence, year-over-year city sales increased for the first time since last summer despite the low inventory,” says Hugh Rider, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and co-president of Realty & Mortgage Co. “This is welcome news for potential sellers who might have been tepid about putting their home on the market. Homeowners also can be motivated by median sales prices that continue to top last year's.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
