Chicago metro housing market nears pre-recession peaks with room to grow

The Chicago metro home market is gaining toward pre-recession levels, but still has room to grow.

There were more sales in April — 10,404 — than in any April since 2006, according to RE/MAX data first reported by Chicago Magazine.

April is typically one of the busiest of the year for home closings.

RE/MAX of Barrington owner Paul Wells attributes the healthy April to rising interest rates and high demand.

Buyers want to lock in low rates while they can, he said.

Mortgage interest rates are expected to climb along with the Federal Reserve’s planned hikes of the federal benchmark rate.

Declining inventory is also informing prices.

The MLS had 41,000 listings in April compared to 46,000 a year earlier and 49,000 for the month in 2016.

The median home price was $240,000, so still not quite as high as 2008’s $248,000.

There are other indicators that the larger metro area home prices aren’t done growing.

Only one in eight of the 187 ZIP codes in Chicago have surpassed pre-recession peak in pricing, according to Case Schiller data.

While the metro area as a whole appears to be behind the rest of the country’s market, Downtown Chicago and the Northside markets are more in line with national trends, and should hit peaks before the rest of The city according to Chicago Magazine. [Chicago Magazine] – Dennis Lynch