METRO CHICAGO REAL ESTATE MARKET LOOKS AHEAD TO STRONGER HOME SALES AS JUNE DELIVERS BEST RESULTS OF 2011

Chicago, IL – July 20, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — June home sales in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market displayed a distinctly split personality, according to an analysis of sales data by RE/MAX.

Sales figures for June registered notable gains in transaction volume and both median and average prices when compared to May and all earlier months this year. At the same time, June results lagged well behind the same month last year when the end of the federal homebuyer tax credit helped generate the largest number of home sales recorded during a single month since the summer of 2007.

The seven-county metro Chicago area saw June home sale rise 12.9 percent from the prior month total to 7,456 units. The median sales price increased 6.5 percent to $181,035, and the average sales price rose 7.9 percent to $258,057. Each of those figures was also the highest recorded for any month in 2011.

Sales of detached homes were especially strong, rising 16 percent from the May total to 4,909 units in the metro area. Attached sales rose 7 percent to 2,547 units.

Another positive sign for the market was that the percentage of sales represented by distressed homes (foreclosures and short sales) was 36 percent in June, down from 41 percent in May after peaking at 51.5 percent in February. The RE/MAX analysis is based on transaction information from Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC.

Nonetheless, June sales results still trailed the comparable figures posted a year earlier. Total home sales were 18.6 percent lower, the median price declined 13 percent and the average price fell 5.7 percent.

RE/MAX reports that the June figures for last year were something of an anomaly reflecting a surge of sales as buyers tried to complete transactions that qualified for the federal tax credit. This year’s June sales numbers suggest that the gradual recovery of the housing market is continuing. The strength of that recovery will be easier to gauge in a month. At that point, July sales results can be compared to those for July 2010 when the tax credit was much less of a stimulative factor although it still played a limited role.

The metro Chicago market did show substantial variation when June sales are looked at on a county-by-county basis. Kendall County posted a 10.2 percent increase in home sales when compared to June of last year, the best result of any of the seven counties.

Only minor declines in total sales occurred in two other counties: 1 percent in Kane and 4.2 percent in Will. In contrast, sales in Cook County were down 24.6 percent on the same basis. Sales also fell 11.3 percent in DuPage, 13.7 percent in McHenry and 20.4 percent in Lake. In the City of Chicago sales were off 29 percent.

Home sales activity in June showed other interesting differences from the pattern seen a year earlier. Homes selling for less than $200,000 represented 54 percent of June sales, compared to 48 percent in June of last year. At the same time, homes priced at $700,000 or more accounted for 5.6 percent of all sales, up from 5.1 percent last June. Increased activity at both ends of the market meant that homes priced from $200,000 to $699,999 accounted for 41 percent of June sales, compared to 47 percent a year ago.

RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,300 sales associates and 110 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of brokerage services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. Its mobile search, m.illinoisproperty.com, allows users to conduct real estate searches on any mobile device with Internet access. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 90,000 sales associates in 84 nations.