May Illinois Home Sales Up
The Illinois median home price in May was $205,000, equal to the median price a year earlier. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.
Year-to-date, sales were down 14.7 percent to 56,775 homes sold January through May 2007 compared to 66,575 homes sold January through May 2006.
“Overall sales are improving each month and we are still seeing positive gains in the median home sale price in many market areas in the state despite the overall housing market adjustment we are experiencing. Illinois REALTORS are reporting homes that are priced correctly and in move-in condition are selling,” said Robert Zoretich, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS. “We continue to be in a strong buyers’ market with interest rates inching up and inventory levels giving buyers a greater variety of homes. Sellers are gradually becoming more realistic and flexible in the pricing of their properties.”
The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 6.29 percent in May 2007, up 0.06 points from the 6.23 average rate during the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Last year in May it averaged 6.70 percent.
The statewide average home price in May was $259,357, up 1.3 percent from $256,066 a year earlier.
In the Chicagoland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales totaled 9,750 in May 2007, down 20.7 percent from 12,295 home sales in the same month last year.
The median home price for the Chicagoland PMSA was $252,388, up 1.2 percent from $249,500 in May 2006. The average home price for Chicagoland was $317,452, up 2.5 percent from $309,643 in May 2006.
“A basic fundamental driving housing demand is employment and the jobs picture has been improving in Illinois over the last few months,” said Zoretich, broker-owner of Zoretich Realty Group in Chicago. “Economists from the National Association of REALTORS anticipate sales activity to improve by the end of the year while home sales should remain about even.”
Sales and price information is generated from a survey of Multiple Listing Service sales reported by 35 participating Illinois REALTOR local boards and associations. The Chicagoland PMSA, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.
The Illinois Association of REALTORS is a voluntary trade association whose over 60,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, the Illinois Association of REALTORS works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation that safeguards and advances the interest of real property ownership.