If you were to sum up May in one word, it would have to be “huge.” There are abundant signs of life in the housing market in the data the Illinois Association of REALTORS® released today.

• The statewide median price in May was $145,000, up 3.6 percent from May 2011. This was the third straight month of median price increases in Illinois, and marked a $22,650 jump in median prices since January.
• For the first time in 49 months, the Chicago PMSA recorded year-over-year median price gains. The median price in the Chicago PMSA went from $169,900 in May 2011 to $170,000 in May 2012.
• Mortgage rates fell yet again to 3.83 percent, a fallout of uncertainty in broader economic markets. That’s a 22 percent decrease in interest rates in a year.
• There were 11,984 sales in Illinois in May, up 22.1 percent over May 2011 numbers and 20 percent over April 2012 numbers.

“For the first time since the recession began, median house prices are increasing on an annual basis and are forecast to continue this trend through the end of the summer,” noted Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of the University of Illinois. “The weaker than expected job figures for the last few months appear not to have affected the housing market; inventories are down, sales volumes are up and the pending sales index is at its highest point since 2008.”

Link to the full news release: www.illinoisrealtor.org/newsrelease/May2012

*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.