Illinois home sales, prices make a late-summer surge in August
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – (RealEstateRama) — The Illinois housing market got a healthy bounce in August, with gains in both home sales and median prices, according to Illinois REALTORS®.
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in August 2016 totaled 16,455 homes sold, up 6.7 percent from 15,415 in August 2015.
The statewide median price in August was $192,000 up 6.7 percent from August 2015 when the median price was $180,000. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
“Houses sold briskly in August as consumers wedged in purchases in the final full month of summer,” said Mike Drews, GRI, president of Illinois REALTORS® and broker-associate with Charles B. Doss & Co. in Aurora. “What’s remarkable are the strong gains we saw statewide despite a market that has been bedeviled by a lack of inventory.”
The time it took to sell a home in August averaged 55 days, down from 64 days a year ago. Available housing inventory totaled 64,915 homes for sale, a 14.8 percent decline from August 2015 when there were 76,156 homes on the market.
The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.44 percent in August 2016, remaining unchanged from the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.In August 2015 it averaged 3.90 percent.
In the nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales (single-family and condominiums) in August 2016 totaled 11,906 homes sold, up 7.6 percent from August 2015 sales of 11,066 homes. The median price in August 2016 was $230,000 in the Chicago PMSA, an increase of 4.5 percent from $220,000 in August 2015.
“Sales recovered in August and prices continue to show positive annual gains,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “However, month-to-month sales’ forecasts suggest a downward trend for the next three months, driven in part by low inventories, the poor job recovery in Illinois and uncertainties about the presidential election.”
According to the data, fifty-five (55) Illinois counties reported sales gains for August 2016 over previous-year numbers, including DeKalb County, up 36.7 percent with 134 units sold; Champaign County, up 17.4 percent with 290 units sold; St. Clair County, up 16.7 percent with 314 units sold; and Kane County, up 11.5 percent with 767 units sold. Fifty-four (54) counties showed year-over-year median price increases including McHenry County, up 16.5 percent to $205,000; Winnebago County, up 15.8 percent to $110,000; and Sangamon County, up 12.2 percent to $143,000.
The city of Chicago saw a 2.6 percent year-over-year home sales increase in August 2016 with 2,770 sales, up from 2,701 in August 2015. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in August 2016 was $275,000, up 1.5 percent compared to August 2015 when it was $271,000.
“We saw a strong surge of late-summer buying in August which lifted sales to positive annual gains,” said Dan Wagner, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and senior vice president for government relations at the Oakbrook-based Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. “The downside to this is that inventories in the city of Chicago saw a notable 14.7 percent decline, making August the fifth month in a row where we’ve seen double-digit percentage decreases in the number of homes for sale.”
Sales and price information are generated by Multiple Listing Service closed sales reported by 28 participating Illinois REALTOR® local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC data as of Sept. 7, 2016 for the period August 1 through August 31, 2016. The Chicago PMSA, 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 44,000 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 and the University of Illinois REAL forecast atwww.illinoisrealtors.org/marketstats.
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MEDIA ONLY: Economist Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings will be available for media interviews between 9 a.m. and noon CDT on Sept. 22. He can be reached by email this month athewings (at) illinois (dot) edu.
Contact: Stephanie Sievers, 217-529-2600
