CHICAGO—The now familiar patterns of a limited inventory of homes for sale and the continuing increase of home values were evident again during February across the metropolitan Chicago housing market, according to RE/MAX Northern Illinois. Echoing results of recent months, February home sales activity fell 2.2%, but the median sales price rose 8.2% when compared to the same month last year.
Those numbers contrast favorably with January, which saw sales decline 6.9% and the median sales price gain 7.1% in the seven-county metro area.
February sales totaled 5,668 units, which sold at a median price of $229,900. The average time needed to sell one of those properties was 101 days, down from 108 days a year earlier. The month-end inventory of listed homes was just 25,520, compared to 28,088 for the prior February, a decrease of 9.1%.
“Despite the obstacles posed by a lack of supply, the Chicago-area housing market remains quite vigorous,” says Jeff LaGrange, vice president, RE/MAX Northern Illinois Region. “When you remember that February was a rather snowy and cold month, the results, in my view, point to a strong spring market.”
LaGrange adds that February home sales rose in three counties, DuPage, Kane and Lake, and was also up slightly in Chicago though down in Cook County as a whole. “One number that stood out to me was the 10.6% increase in the median sales price that we saw in Cook County broadly and in the City of Chicago. Chicago and its Cook County suburbs accounted for 56.8% of all February sales in the metro area, and that kind of price increase suggests that demand for homes in or close to the city is quite strong.”
The home sales data used for the RE/MAX analysis is collected by MRED, the regional multiple listing service. It covers detached and attached homes, including condominiums, in the IL counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Detached homes are typically stand-alone, single-family dwellings.
The dwindling number of properties subject to foreclosure or short sale have helped boost home prices. Those distressed homes accounted for just 12.4% of all February sales this year, down from 26.2% two years earlier. The median sales price of distressed properties typically has been 50% to 60% of the median sales price for the total market.
“If distressed sales are eliminated from the February results, total sales activity rose 5.1%, while the median sales price gained 3%, indicating that the housing market is continuing to improve at a sustainable pace,” says LaGrange.
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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.
