CHICAGO—The start of the spring selling season brought more homes to the market, but in numbers that are significantly below last spring's relatively low amount. As a result, buyers were snapping up available homes faster than ever, and median prices continued to outpace the year before, according to Illinois REALTORS.
Statewide home sales in April 2018 totaled 14,478 homes sold, up 1.9% from 14,202 in April 2017. The statewide median price in April was $210,000, up 5.0% from April 2017, when the median price was $200,000.
“April traditionally marks the beginning of the spring selling season, and this year we saw sellers reap the benefit of tight housing inventories in many areas of the state,” says Matt Difanis, president of the statewide association and broker-owner of RE/MAX Realty Associates in Champaign. “Although we saw many more properties on the market in April, the surge is nowhere close to meeting consumer demand.”
The time it took to sell a home in April averaged just 54 days, down from 61 days a year ago. Available housing inventory totaled 51,527 homes for sale, a 10.4% decline from April 2017 when there were 57,537 homes on the market.
In the nine-county Chicago metro area, home sales in April 2018 totaled 10,535 homes sold, up 2.1% from April 2017 sales of 10,315 homes. The median price in April 2018 was $250,000 in the Chicago metro area, an increase of 3.3% from $242,000 in April 2017.
“The IL and Chicago housing markets continue their modest upward trends,” says Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “While the effect of rising mortgage interest rates has yet to be felt, consumer sentiment remains strong. For IL, job growth remains way behind the national rates and this sluggishness is reflected in the more muted growth of housing sales and prices.”
According to the data, fifty IL counties reported sales gains for April 2018 over previous-year numbers, including DuPage County, up 4.2% with 1,280 units sold; and Cook County, up 1.4% with 5,780 units sold. Fifty-nine counties showed year-over-year median price increases including Lake County, up 4.4% to $250,500.
Buyers were less active in Chicago. The city saw year-over-year home sales just increase 0.1% with 2,649 sales in April, compared to 2,647 a year ago. The median price of a Chicago home in April 2018 was $309,950 up 4.2% compared to April 2017 when it was $297,500.
“Overall closed sales in April closely mirror last year's numbers, but the median sales price continues to rise,” says Rebecca Thomson, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS and principal of Thomson Real Estate Group. “Buyers need to act quickly with fewer homes to choose from and shorter market times.”
Sales and price information were generated by Multiple Listing Service closed sales reported by 27 participating Illinois REALTOR local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC data as of May 7, 2018 for the period April 1 through April 30, 2018.
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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.
