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Home sales saw new energy in October as consumer interest helped lift sales just shy of positive territory, data from Illinois REALTORS® show. Statewide, prices remained stable, posting modest gains as consumers continued to face chronic inventory shortfalls in some areas.
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in October totaled 13,035 homes sold, down 0.2 percent from 13,056 in October 2017.
The statewide median price in October was $190,000, up 2.7 percent from October 2017, when the median price was $185,000. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
“We saw a significant rebound in home sales in October, signaling that there is still a lot of life in the market,” said Ed Neaves, Illinois REALTORS® president-elect and managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “While homebuyers may be frustrated by a lack of available homes and higher prices in some areas, those dynamics are not enough to overcome a desire to make a purchase as we close in on the holiday season.”
The time it took to sell a home in October averaged 51 days, down from 53 days a year ago. Available inventory totaled 58,731 homes for sale, a 2.6 percent decline from 60,326 homes in October 2017.
According to the data, home sales in the Bloomington MSA (McLean and Dewitt counties) totaled 228, a 23.2 percent increase while the median price was up 11.1 percent to $169,500; and the Moline-Rock Island MSA (Henry, Mercer and Rock Island counties) totaled 208 units, an 11.2 percent increase while the median price was up 22.6 percent to $114,000.
The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.83 percent in October, an increase from 4.63 percent the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. In October 2017, it averaged 3.90 percent.
In the nine-county Chicago Metro Area, home sales (single-family and condominiums) in October totaled 9,038 homes sold, down 1.7 percent from October 2017 sales of 9,191 homes. The median price in October was $230,000 in the Chicago Metro Area, an increase of 3.6 percent from $222,000 in October 2017.
“The Illinois and Chicago markets appear to be following normal patterns for this time of year,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois. “There is some uncertainty among consumers whose outlook, while positive overall, is a little cautious about the housing market reflected in Fannie Mae’s Purchase Sentiment Index that revealed that the net share of consumers who said it’s a good time to buy a home posted a large decrease.”
According to the data, fifty (50) Illinois counties reported sales gains for October over previous-year numbers, including Madison County, up 10.8 percent with 339 units sold; and Lake County, up 4.3 percent with 854 units sold. Fifty-four (54) counties showed year-over-year median price increases including Sangamon County, up 11.2 percent to $144,450; Will County, up 7.2 percent to $217,900; and Cook County, up 4.4 percent to $235,000.
The city of Chicago saw year-over-year home sales decrease 2.5 percent with 2,056 sales in October, compared to 2,109 a year ago. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in October was $272,500 up 4.8 percent compared to October 2017 when it was $260,000.
“A stabilization is taking place in many areas of the market – demand and prices are fairly steady, inventory continues to decline, albeit less sharply, and buyers are regaining some power,” said Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and broker at Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park. “These metrics are fairly typical as we enter a historically slower time of the year.”
Sales and price information are 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 Nov. 7, 2018 for the period Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, 2018. The Chicago Metro Area, 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 47,000 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, the University of Illinois REAL forecast and more at www.illinoisrealtors.org/marketstats.
