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Housing Inventory Catching Up to Demand

CHICAGO-The number of homes for sale across the state has lagged demand for some time, but last month RE/MAX says the gap has finally started to narrow.

By Brian J. Rogal | brianjrogal | | Updated on June 22, 2016

 

chi-kane (4) At the end of May, 37,696 homes were listed for sale in the seven-county metro area, 9% more than a month earlier but 5% fewer than May 2015.
CHICAGO—The metro Chicago housing market backed up strong April results with solid gains in May, RE/MAX reports. Home sales in the seven-county area rose 9% in May compared to May 2015, with 11,616 units changing hands. The median sales price climbed 5% to $235,000. Furthermore, the gap between demand for new homes and the available supply may be narrowing. At the end of May, 37,696 homes were listed for sale in the seven-county metro area, 9% more than a month earlier but 5% fewer than May 2015. That’s an improvement from the April numbers, when the available inventory was about 91% of the amount available in April 2015. “It seems very unlikely that we will see inventory numbers higher this year than we did last year,” Stephen Johnson , marketing communications manager for RE/MAX Northern Illinois , tells GlobeSt.com. “But the sellers are slowly peeking their heads out. We hope that this trend continues and we can reach 98% or 99% of where we were last year, or maybe matching it.”    “I’m optimistic we’ll see an expanding inventory, especially in the middle ranges of the market where supplies are the tightest,” adds Jack Kreider , executive vice president and regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois network. The RE/MAX analysis of Chicago area home sales uses data for the IL counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will collected by MRED , the regional multiple listing service. May home sales rose in six counties and Chicago; three counties posted double-digit gains. Lake led with a 16% increase from May 2015, while DuPage and Kendall were up 13%. Cook gained 9%, McHenry 8%, Kane 5% and Chicago 6%. Will had a 2% decline. The median sales price rose in all seven counties, led by McHenry, with a year-over-year gain of 13%. In Cook, DuPage and Kane, the gain was 4%. The median rose 8% in Will, 5% in Kendall and 3% in Lake and Chicago. “The buyers are definitely there,” says Johnson. And there is still room for growth. In terms of the number of sales, the market is at about a 2006 level, “and we only see it increasing from here on out.”      

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