25-Aug-18 – Steamy July weather set median home prices afire in Chicago as existing units sold quickly at higher price points because of a scarcity of listings, reports Illinois Realtors.

The City of Chicago saw year-over-year home sales increase 1.1 percent with 2,728 sales of single-family homes, townhomes, and condos in July, compared to 2,698 units a year ago.

The median price of a home in Chicago in July rose three percent to $309,000, up from $300,000 in July 2017. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

“This July outpaced the year-ago month, with a higher number of closed sales, further contributing to the shrinking pool of inventory,” said Rebecca Thomson (left), principal of Thomson Real Estate Group and president of Chicago Association of Realtors.

“The summer market has some staying power, and if July’s numbers are any indication, in the future, buyers should expect a competitive market with fewer options, limited time to make decisions, and steadily increasing prices,” she said.

A recent decline in home loan rates gave the existing home and condo market a lift, experts said. In August, mortgage rates decreased for three straight weeks, pushing home loan interest charges to their lowest level since mid-April, reported Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

On August 23, lenders were charging 4.51 percent on benchmark 30-year fixed home loans, down from 4.53 percent a week earlier. A year ago at this time, 30-year fixed loans averaged 3.86 percent. Fifteen-year fixed home loans averaged 3.98 percent on August 23, down from 4.01 percent a week earlier. A year ago at this time, 15-year fixed loans averaged 3.16 percent.

Chicago-area lenders were charging a range of 4.255 to 4.610 percent on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages on August 23, reported RateSeeker.

Housing inventory low in many cities besides Chicago

Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, agreed that many of the nation’s metro areas “desperately need more new and existing affordable housing inventory.”

In the nine-county Chicago Metro Area, July single-family home, townhome, and condo sales totaled 11,473 units, down 0.5 percent from sales of 11,534 units in July 2017. The median price in July was $252,000 in the Chicago Metro Area, an increase of 1.8 percent from $247,500 in July 2017.

Statewide, a total of 16,007 homes, townhomes, and condos were sold in July, up 0.1 percent from 15,999 units in July 2017. The statewide median price in July was $214,900, up 2.3 percent from July 2017, when the median price was $210,000.

Sales and price information are generated by Multiple Listing Service closed sales reported by 27 participating Illinois Realtor local boards and associations, including data from Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC.

“The flattening of sales in July points to sustained, chronic shortages in housing inventory in many of the state’s markets,” said Matt Difanis (right), president of Illinois Realtors. “This relative lack of homes for sale in certain price bands is a continuation of the market dynamics which have been in place throughout 2018, and there’s no immediate reason to expect a sudden departure from this in the near term for buyers and sellers.”

The time it took to sell a home statewide in July averaged just 44 days, down from 47 days a year ago. Available inventory statewide totaled 59,777 homes for sale, a 5.5 percent decline from 63,224 homes in July 2017.

While inventory continues to fall in both Chicago and Illinois, pending sales continue to show strong increases, according to noted University of Illinois economist Geoffrey J.D. Hewings.