October Home Sales Activity in Metro Chicago Real Estate Market

ELGIN, IL – November 17, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — October home sales activity in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market continued the upward trend evident during the third quarter of 2011, according to an analysis by RE/MAX of home sales statistics collected by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC. The number of homes changing hands in October increased 22.3 percent when compared to October 2010. That followed a 19.3 percent gain in the third quarter.

Home prices continued to fall in October, with the median price of a home in the seven-county metro area at $150,000, 15.7 percent lower than during the previous October. The year-to-year decline in the third quarter was 7.8 percent.

“The drop in home prices during October, as well as in the third quarter, is attributable, at least in part, to an increase in sales of distressed properties (short sales and foreclosures),” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. “Distressed properties represented 43.6 percent of all sales in the metro area during October, up from 37.5 percent a year earlier.”

The increase in distressed sales continued a trend first seen in September when 40.1 percent of closings were distressed properties, up from 36.3 percent in August.

October home sales activity was 4.6 percent lower than in September. Over the prior five years, October averaged 5.3 percent fewer sales than September.

Attached Homes

Sales of attached homes (primarily condominium apartments and townhouses) rose a robust 26.7 percent in October from the same month last year. The median sales price of attached homes was 23 percent lower in October than it had been a year earlier.

However, attached home sales varied widely by area within the metro region during October. In DuPage County, sales were up 60 percent. They rose 74 percent in Kendall County and 44 percent in Will County. In contrast, the City of Chicago, which accounted for 40 percent of all attached home sales last month, saw transactions rise 17 percent.

Similarly, the median sales price for an attached home declined as much as 35 percent (in McHenry County) and is little as 7.6 percent (in Will County). Here are the October median sales prices for attached homes in all seven counties: Cook– $130,000; DuPage –$117,500; Kane — $106,250; Kendall — $90,000; Lake — $120,000; McHenry — $82,050; Will — $120,000.

The average market time for attached homes that sold during October in the metro area was 179 days, down from 182 days a year earlier.

Detached Homes

The market for detached homes continued to exhibit greater stability than the attached home market, but both moved in similar directions. Sales activity for detached homes was up 20 percent in October, with 3,697 homes changing hands. The median price was $169,000, a decline of 11 percent from the year-earlier period.

Sales activity increased in all seven counties. Will and Kendall counties experienced the largest gains, with sales up 54 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Cook County had the most modest increase, 10 percent, with the City of Chicago recording a 7 percent decline in sales.

The median home price in the city was the most stable, dipping just 0.4 percent from the prior October to $130,000. The sharpest declines in median price were in Lake County (down 24 percent) and Kane County (down 20 percent).

The October median prices for detached homes in the seven counties are as follows: Cook– $155,450; DuPage –$240,000; Kane — $147,250; Kendall — $184,642; Lake — $175,000; McHenry — $164,950; Will — $170,055.

For detached homes sold in October, the average time spent on the market before going under contract was 163 days, up from 156 days in October of last year.

RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,200 sales associates and 105 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 89,000 sales associates in 85 nations.