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Barrington area sees nosedive in home sales, prices this year
Home sales in the northwest suburbs have dropped 14 percent this year amid sluggish demand for luxury estates
The sputtering market for expensive older houses is taking a heavy toll on the Barrington area.
The number of homes sold in the tony northwest suburbs of Barrington, North Barrington, South Barrington and Barrington Hills declined by about 14 percent between the first eight months of 2017 and the same period this year, according to data from the Chicago Association of Realtors reported in Crain’s.
The median sale price in the area dropped by 10 percent over the same period.
The Barrington area is home to six of the nine oldest active listings in Cook County, according to an analysis by The Real Deal of Redfin data. The title for longest market time belongs to a home at 291 Donlea Road in Barrington Hills, which has been publicly listed four times since it came to the market in 2007.
Crain’s identified another house in Barrington Hills that sold last month at a lower price than its previous owners had paid back in 2002.
At the same time, rental demand appears strong in Chicago’s far northwest suburbs. Median net rents jumped by 5.5 percent in McHenry County between the second quarters of 2017 and 2018, according to an Integra report published this week.
The north shore suburb of Lake Forest, also known for pricey estates, has seen a 4 percent dip in median sales price so far in 2018 compared to the first eight months of last year, although the number of units sold ticked up by 5 percent.
Chicago’s luxury home market has been sagging as well. While condos in new residential developments like JDL’s 9 West Walton Street are selling well, the city’s median sale price of homes over $1 million has been on a steady skid since about 2015, with a luxury glut making older mansion and high-rise condos harder to sell. [Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin