Off the market: Chicago’s single-family home inventory at 11-year low, report says

The number of single-family homes on the market in Chicago has dipped to its lowest level in more than 11 years, continuing a trend that has brokers offering differing explanations for the slide.

There were 3,346 houses on the market in the last week of March, according to data posted by the Chicago Association of Realtors. It was the lowest inventory recorded, although the numbers have been declining for the past three years, according to Crain’s.

New listings are running about 9 percent below 2017 so far this year, according to the same report, and brokers have their reasons:

Prices have gone up … just not enough. The median price of a home sold in the past 12 months was up 4.5 percent over the previous year, but not ”the wild numbers that would make people decide to just put the house out there, test the market and see if you can get a good number for it,” Coldwell Banker’s Karen Peterson told Crain’s.

Many homeowners still don’t have enough equity to fund their next move. “Before they sell, they want to know where they’ll go next, and what they can afford might not be the best,” said John Irwin of Baird & Warner. If they have to go to a lesser neighborhood to get a better home, “they’ll stay where they are,” he said.

They’re competing with new construction. “Everybody wants to buy new if they can,” Compass’ Brad Lippitz said. A large inventory of new construction has led to lower prices on new homes, and brokers said buyers will choose modern floor plans and amenities over older homes without them.[Crain’s] — John O’Brien