Illinois Home Sales: Prices Climb Higher in June and First Half of 2016
Jean Wright Real Estate
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — 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 Illinois REALTORS®. Statewide home sales (including singlefamily homes and condominiums) in June 2016 totaled 18,593 homes sold, up 1.4 percent from 18,328 in June 2015. Yeartodate, home sales totaled 78,547 homes sold, an increase of 5.5 percent compared to the first six months of 2015. The statewide median price in June was $204,000 up 5.8 percent from June 2015 when the median price was $192,800. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less. The yeartodate median price was $183,174, a 7.3 percent gain. “Sellers continue to reap the rewards of a summer market where buyers are choosing from a greatly diminished pool of properties,” said Mike Drews, GRI, president of Illinois REALTORS® and brokerassociate with Charles B. Doss & Co. in Aurora. “The market dynamics we have experienced throughout the spring and early summer persist as the number of homes for sale struggle to keep pace with buyer demand.” The time it took to sell a home in June averaged 55 days, down from 62 days a year ago. Available housing inventory totaled 64,724 homes for sale, a 15.1 percent decline from June 2015 when there were 76,207 homes on the market. The monthly average commitment rate for a 30year, fixedrate mortgage was 3.57 percent in June 2016, a decline from the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. In June 2015 it averaged 3.98 percent. In the ninecounty Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales (singlefamily and condominiums) in June 2016 totaled 13,620 homes sold, up 2.1 percent from June 2015 sales of 13,342 homes. The median price in June 2016 was $242,500 in the Chicago PMSA, an increase of 4.6 percent from $231,900 in June 2015. Yeartodate home sales totaled 56,678, a 6.3 percent increase while the median price for the first half of the year averaged $222,500, a 6.0 percent increase. “Another month of modest gains in both sales and prices,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “The outlook for the next three months suggests annual growth but the monthtomonth changes in sales point to some potential declines in sales, but not prices.” According to the data, fortytwo (42) Illinois counties reported sales gains for June 2016 over previousyear numbers, including Tazewell County, up 26.1 percent with 227 units sold; McHenry County, up 16 percent with 680 units sold; and Cook County, up 0.1 percent with 7,137 units sold. Fortyeight (48) counties showed yearoveryear median price increases including Will County, up 7.4 percent to $210,000; Madison County, up 6.1 percent to $132,500; DuPage County, up 4.2 percent to $273,000, and Sangamon County, up 8.4 percent to
$149,000. The city of Chicago saw a 0.2 percent yearoveryear home sales increase in June 2016 with 3,210 sales, up from 3,202 in June 2015. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in June 2016 was $300,000, up 4.1 percent compared to June 2015 when it was $288,250. Year to date home sales totaled 13,953, a 4.1 percent increase compared to last year and the median price averaged $275,000, a 3.5 percent gain. “Chicago homebuyers are having to work harder to find properties which meet their criteria and budget,” said Dan Wagner, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and senior vice president for government relations at the Oakbrookbased Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. “A combination of low mortgage rates and a limited number of properties on the market is pushing median prices higher, a continuation of a trend we have seen for much of the warmweather selling season.” Sales and price information is generated by Multiple Listing Service closed sales reported by 28 participating Illinois REALTOR® local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC data as of July 7, 2016 for the period June 1 through June 30, 2016. The Chicago PMSA, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Illinois REALTORS® is a voluntary trade association whose more than 44,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, Illinois REALTORS® works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation to safeguard and advance the interest of real property ownership. Find Illinois housing stats, data and the University of Illinois REAL forecast at www.illinoisrealtors.org/marketstats. MEDIA ONLY: Economist Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings will be available for media interviews between 9 a.m. and noon CDT on July 21. He can be reached at 3123203460.