CHICAGO—Home sales across the region slowed down in 2014, but in 2015 the pace began to pick up. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network, for example, reports that the sales volume generated by its brokers increased sharply in 2015. The network's 2,250 agents rung up $8.6 billion in sales, a 13% increase from the 2014 total. RE/MAX hit the $1 billion mark in both June and July, the first time that had happened since 2007. The number of transactions closed by RE/MAX agents last year also increased. The 2015 total topped 40,600, over 9% more than the prior year, giving the network a faster rate of growth than the regional housing market as a whole. “Our brokers had a very strong year, even when compared to the general real estate marketplace,” says Jim Merrion , the Elgin, IL-based RE/MAX network's regional director. “The number of homes sold in the Chicago metro area, for example, rose just 7% last year.” Merrion adds that brokers averaged 18 closed transactions each in 2015, up from 17 in 2014. In comparison, REAL Trends magazine reported that in 2014, residential brokers affiliated with other leading real estate brands closed an average of 7.8 transactions.