- The metro's supply of attached homes is considered low.
- Cook County accounts for more than half of the metro's sales activity.
- With some transactions pushed back to this month, the metro's November sales figures could be up on a month-over-month basis.
Relatively unchanged home sales activity in the seven-county Chicago metro has done little to halt median sales price growth.
RE/MAX Northern Illinois reported home sales volume in October dropped by 1 percent on a year-over-year basis. At the same time, the median sales prices of a home rose by 8 percent year-over-year to $201,400. This represents the 33rd straight month where the median sales price in the metro has been higher than the same month one year earlier.
Helping boost the median sales price has been the continuing decline in distressed sales volume. In October, 1,747 distressed closings occurred, a 26 percent year-over-year decline. Inventory is also playing a role, especially in the attached home market where supply is down to 3.4 months.
In total, 9,057 homes sold in the seven-county metro during October, a tally RE/MAX thinks could have been higher.
“In our view, the Chicago-area housing market is actually stronger than the October unit numbers might suggest,” said Jim Merrion, regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois, pointing to newly effective federal regulations that govern closing procedures. “That almost certainly slowed down the closing process for many transactions, pushing them back into November.”
Cook and Dupage counties accounted for the most sales within the metro.
In Cook County, 4,969 homes sold in October, including 2,131 in the city of Chicago. The county’s sales total equates to a 1 percent year-over-year drop in activity. Detached sales accounted for 2,767 closings, while 2,202 attached homes sold. The median sales price jumped up 5 percent despite unchanging sales levels.
Dupage County saw a 3 percent year-over-year rise in sales volume, with 1,143 homes trading in October. The median sales price of a home rose by 6 percent.
Will County and Lake County contributed 933 sales and 836 sales, respectively, in October.
