The Illinois Realtors reported a strong sales month as we head into the fall season, seeing a total of 16,455 home sold in August.
During the same month in 2015, only 15,415 homes sold, according to Illinois Realtors. This 6.7 percent increase in home sales is supported by a boost in median home price. The year-over-year growth in median home price, also 6.7 percent, puts the mark at $192,000.
Graphic courtesy of Illinois Realtors.
“We saw a strong surge of late-summer buying in August which lifted sales to positive annual gains,” Dan Wagner, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors, said in a press release. “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.”
Chicago and the surrounding markets
Single-family home sales in August increased 7.6 percent in the Chicago metro over the year, to 11,906. Median home price in the area was $230,000 through August — a 4.5 percent rise since the same month last year.
“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.”
Home sales increased 2.6 percent year-over-year in the city of Chicago. And despite the city’s lower median home price, Chicago’s $275,000 price tag was still an increase from the previous year.
Illinois Realtors also reported that 55 of 102 counties in the state experienced sales gains throughout the month. Dekalb County recorded the highest growth in sales from 2015, with a 36.7 percent increase.
McHenry County recorded the highest median price increase of the 54 counties that saw growth, at 16.7 percent year-over-year. Median home price in McHenry County was $205,000 in August.
