Chicago Real Estate Investing

Chicago-area home sales rose almost 28% in August compared with the previous year, the second consecutive increase after a string of declines.

In the nine-county area, 7,187 single-family homes and condominiums sold last month, up from 5,632 in August 2010, according to a statement Wednesday from the Illinois Assn. of Realtors. July sales rose 19.2% locally compared with the year-earlier month. Before then, monthly sales hadn’t risen since June 2010.

“A strong buyer’s market continues in the Illinois housing market with record low mortgage interest rates and lower home prices although job worries and overall economic uncertainty are holding many back,” Sheryl Grider Whitehurst, president of the association and a managing broker for Traders Realty in Peoria, said in the statement.

Sales in the city of Chicago rose 20.3%, to 1,787 compared with 1,486 in August 2010, the Realtors said.

Statewide sales rose almost 26% to 10,622.

The Illinois sales figures include new and existing homes. The nine-county Chicago area consists of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

via Local home sales jump for second straight month | Residential News | Crain’s Chicago Business.