Illinois headed into the fall housing market with September gains in home sales and median prices, data from Illinois REALTORS® show.
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in September totaled 12,854 homes sold, up 1.3 percent from 12,687 in September 2018.
The statewide median price in September was $200,000, up 1.5 percent from September 2018, when the median price was $197,000. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
“Illinois homebuyers rushed in to take advantage of low interest rates, and this boosted sales at a time when traditionally the market begins to slow down,” said Ed Neaves, president of Illinois REALTORS® and designated managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “September clearly illustrates the roller-coaster nature of home sales this year, although median prices continue to show solid month-over-month gains for those who are in the market to sell.”
The time it took to sell a home in September averaged 48 days, unchanged from a year ago. Available inventory totaled 59,948 homes for sale, a 5.5 percent decline from 63,454 homes in September 2018.
According to the data, home sales in the Metro East MSA (Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties) totaled 690 units, a 1.2 percent increase while the median price was up 2.8 percent to $145,000; home sales in the Springfield MSA (Sangamon and Menard counties) totaled 269, a 20.6 percent increase while the median price increased 14.7 percent to $148,000.
The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.61 percent in
September, a decrease from 3.62 percent the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. In September 2018, it averaged 4.63 percent.
In the nine-county Chicago Metro Area, home sales (single-family and condominiums) in September totaled 8,834, up 1.0 percent from September 2018 sales of 8,750 homes. The median price in September was $240,000 in the Chicago Metro Area, an increase of 1.1 percent from $237,500 in September 2018.
“While month-to-month sales continued the usual decline at this time of the year, on an annual basis, September sales were slightly higher than last year,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “In Chicago, the year-over-year decline in sales of foreclosed properties by 10 percent overshadowed an almost 2 percent increase in regular sales. Consumer sentiment indices and the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index broadly reflected consumer uncertainty about the direction of the economy.”
The city of Chicago saw year-over-year home sales decrease 4.2 percent with 1,954 sales in September, compared to 2,040 a year ago. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in September was $292,750 up 2.7 percent compared to September 2018 when it was $285,000.
“The fall market is in full swing and sales are stabilizing as a result,” said Maurice Hampton, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and owner of Centered International Realty. “While we saw slight declines in closed sales for all properties, including single family homes and condos, we also saw slight increases in median sales prices. Buyers are benefiting from reasonable prices, low rates and increased market times.”
Sales and price information are generated by Multiple Listing Service closed sales reported by 27 participating Illinois REALTOR® local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC data as of Oct. 7, 2019 for the period Sept. 1 through Sept. 30, 2019. The Chicago Metro Area, 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 50,000 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, the University of Illinois REAL forecast and more at https://staging.illinoisrealtors.org/marketstats.
