Chicago Real Estate Investing

Chicago, State and Nation Home Sales Rise

Metro Chicago real estate sales saw a double-digit, year-over-year improvement last month, as did the Chicago area, the state of Illinois and the country in general.

According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS® latest report, the nine-county Chicago metropolitan area sold 7,187 homes in August, which represents a 27.6 percent increase from the number of homes sold in August 2010.

In the city of Chicago, existing home sales were up 20.3 percent in August 2011 compared to the same month last year. And, in Illinois the increase in August homes sold was 25.9 compared to August 2010.

“Housing sales in Illinois and the nine-county Chicago region increased in August and positive year-to-year changes are forecast in both the Chicago PMSA and Illinois for the next three months of September, October and November,” said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois.

“However, the job market confirmed that the nation’s economic recovery is slowing down; the Illinois unemployment rate has increased four months in a row after 15 consecutive months of declines.”

It’s good thing, then, that home prices are still bottoming out.

*Chicago metro area: The median price in August 2011 was $176,500, down 10.4 percent compared to the $197,000 in August 2010.

*City of Chicago: The median price in August was $192,500, a 3.8 percent decrease from the $200,000 posted last August.

*Illinois: The statewide median price was $149,000 last month, a 5.4 percent decline from the $157,500 recorded a year ago August.

“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,” said REALTOR® Sheryl Grider Whitehurst, ABR, CRB, GRI, e-PRO, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®.

“In some local markets prices are firming as homes are selling due to high affordability conditions and pent-up demand; 8.5 percent more homes sold statewide in August compared to the previous month of July.”

Nationwide, the story is pretty much the same. U.S. existing-home sales in August rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million; an 18.6 percent increase from the 4.24 million unit level in August 2010.

The national median home price last month was $168,300, a 5.1 percent decline from the median price during the same month last year.

No matter where you live, the conditions to buy are there. The economy just needs the buyers.

“All year,” said National Association of REALTORS President Ron Phipps, “the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income has been hovering at historic highs, meaning the best housing affordability conditions in a generation.”

The Federal Reserve made a move on Wednesday to stimulate the economy and make home buying opportunities even more possible. Please check back to Chicagoland Real Estate Forum for that story.

via Illinois, Chicago Real Estate Sales, Prices for August 2011 | Chicagoland Real Estate Forum.

A closely watched index of local home prices jumped in June, its second straight monthly increase, though prices here remain roughly where they were in 2001.

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index of Chicago-area single-family home prices rose 3.2% from May to June but was still down 7.4% from the year-earlier level, according to a report released Tuesday. The index rose 1.7% from April to May, it’s first monthly gain since last August.

The 3.2% rise was the biggest monthly gain for the Chicago index since at least 1987, the earliest year for which data are available.

Chicago was one of 19 of 20 cites tracked by Standard & Poor’s where prices rose in June; a 20-city composite price index increased 1.1% from May, according to the report.

The increases are an encouraging sign for a housing market stuck in a five-year slump, but the weak economy, tight lending climate and high loan delinquencies remain obstacles to a recovery.

The Chicago-area price index is down 31% from its peak in September 2006 and is back where it was in July 2001.

An S&P/Case-Shiller index of local condominium prices also rose 4.3% from May to June but was down 13.4% from a year earlier. The index has fallen 29.9% from its peak in September of 2007 and stands roughly where it was in April of 2001.

via Local home price index shoots up in June | Residential News | Crain’s Chicago Business.

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.