CHICAGO—Homebuyer demand drove sales and prices higher in June and marked a strong first half of the year for the Illinois housing market, according to the latest report from Illinois REALTORS® . Statewide home sales totaled 18,593 homes sold, up 1.4% from 18,328 in June 2015. Year-to-date, home sales totaled 78,547 homes sold, an increase of 5.5% compared to the first six months of last year. The statewide median price in June was $204,000 up 5.8% from June 2015 when the median price was $192,800. The year-to-date median price was $183,174, a 7.3% gain. “On balance, Illinois' performance was a solid improvement,” Dan Wagner , president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and senior vice president for government relations at the Oak Brook-based Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. , tells GlobeSt.com. The Illinois numbers match up well with national statistics just released by the National Associations of REALTORS® . As reported earlier this week in GlobeSt.com, with a larger share of first-time buyers than the residential market has seen in nearly four years, June's national tally reached an annualized 5.57 million, the best showing since 5.79 million in February 2007. A source of concern for Illinois is the consistent weakness of inventory. Available housing inventory in June totaled 64,724 homes for sale, a 15.1% decline from June 2015 when there were 76,207 homes on the market. “New home construction has not fully recovered since the recession, and although the numbers are trending up, they have a long way to go to play a meaningful role in easing the inventory problems,” says Wagner. However, “the overhang on the market from a few years ago where people were underwater on mortgages, which resulted in their being reluctant to put a home on the market, is less of an issue now. Pricing has steadily increased for many months, and that means that homes that might have once been underwater are now above water. Still, it's not enough to solve the problem.” In the nine-county Chicago metro area, year-to-date home sales totaled 56,678, a 6.3% increase while the median price for the first half of the year averaged $222,500, a 6.0% increase. CHICAGO—Homebuyer demand drove sales and prices higher in June and marked a strong first half of the year for the Illinois housing market, according to the latest report from Illinois REALTORS® . Statewide home sales totaled 18,593 homes sold, up 1.4% from 18,328 in June 2015. Year-to-date, home sales totaled 78,547 homes sold, an increase of 5.5% compared to the first six months of last year. The statewide median price in June was $204,000 up 5.8% from June 2015 when the median price was $192,800. The year-to-date median price was $183,174, a 7.3% gain. “On balance, Illinois' performance was a solid improvement,” Dan Wagner , president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and senior vice president for government relations at the Oak Brook-based Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. , tells GlobeSt.com. The Illinois numbers match up well with national statistics just released by the National Associations of REALTORS® . As reported earlier this week in GlobeSt.com, with a larger share of first-time buyers than the residential market has seen in nearly four years, June's national tally reached an annualized 5.57 million, the best showing since 5.79 million in February 2007. A source of concern for Illinois is the consistent weakness of inventory. Available housing inventory in June totaled 64,724 homes for sale, a 15.1% decline from June 2015 when there were 76,207 homes on the market. “New home construction has not fully recovered since the recession, and although the numbers are trending up, they have a long way to go to play a meaningful role in easing the inventory problems,” says Wagner. However, “the overhang on the market from a few years ago where people were underwater on mortgages, which resulted in their being reluctant to put a home on the market, is less of an issue now. Pricing has steadily increased for many months, and that means that homes that might have once been underwater are now above water. Still, it's not enough to solve the problem.” In the nine-county Chicago metro area, year-to-date home sales totaled 56,678, a 6.3% increase while the median price for the first half of the year averaged $222,500, a 6.0% increase.