CHICAGO—Spring may have arrived, but the long months of harsh winter weather is still exerting downward pressure on statewide home sales, according to officials from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. The organization just published statistics which show a decline in March home sales, at least compared to March 2013, and a decline in available inventory. At the same time, however, median prices increased as a healthy number of buyers competed to purchase the shrinking number of for-sale homes.
“We usually have a pretty good number of listings that come on in February,” Phil Chiles, president of the state association and broker-associate with the Real Estate Group in downstate Springfield, tells GlobeSt.com. “This year we didn't get that influx.”
"We're just barely out of the winter," he adds, and he is hopeful that more homes will soon hit the market. He has clients that meant to put their homes up for sale last month, but the seemingly endless cold weather kept them from completing the necessary tasks. "Now we're just playing catch-up."
In March, a total of 9,929 homes were sold, down from 11,226 in March 2013. The association's data also show that only 58,858 units were available in March, down 15.8% compared to last year.
“The ones that did go on the market sold pretty rapidly,” Chiles says, and for relatively high prices. The statewide median price was $148,000, up 9.7% from March 2013 when it was $134,900, the association's data show.
“For some time, it's been a real buyers' market,” he adds, “but until we get more inventory it's going to be a sellers' market, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.”
Chicago's metropolitan area also saw a dip in March sales. In the nine counties that comprise the Chicago metropolitan area, a total of 7,177 homes, including condominiums, were sold, down 11.1% from the previous March. But the median price of a metropolitan area home in March was $175,000, up 12.9% from $155,000 in March 2013. And the time it took to sell a home continued to drop year-over-year in March with listings averaging 72 days until sale, a 13.3% decrease compared to 83 days last March.
City of Chicago homebuyers closed on 1,819 homes, down from 1,945 in March 2013, a 6.5% decline. And city homes saw the biggest boost in prices. The median price rose to $237,000 versus $187,000 in March 2013, an annual increase of 26.7%.
“Although the annual sales rates have declined, the month to month changes continue to be strongly positive,” says Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of the University of Illinois. “In addition, positive housing price gains, continuing declines in the foreclosure inventory levels and the increasing share of sales of homes priced above $200,000 suggest a housing market that is responding positively to signals from the economy.”
"Relative to the number of homes available for sale in the marketplace, Chicago is still selling more homes than it did this time last year,” says Matt Farrell, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and managing partner of Urban Real Estate.
"Most of the transactions which closed in March are homes that went under contract in January and February, despite the inclement winter which definitely impacted an already anticipated slower winter market,” Farrell adds. "Buyer demand continues to outpace available inventory; sellers looking to make a move should be jumping off the fence now while buyers are still able to capitalize on attractive interest rates.”
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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.
