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Residential
Chicago

New home sales on the rise, partly due to price cuts: report

Q3 results saw sales of new construction ticked up year over year

(Credit: iStock)
(Credit: iStock)

Sales of new construction homes in the Chicago area is up so far this year, in part because of builder price cuts.

New home sales were up 3 percent through the end of September, compared to the same period last year, according to a report from consulting firm Tracy Cross & Associates. Crain’s reported on the data.

Builders sold 3,154 new homes in the first nine months of the year, compared to 3,062 in the first three quarters of 2017, according to the Schaumburg-based firm, which tracks sales in developments of 10 homes or more.

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The median price of new homes sold dropped below $350,000 in the second and third quarters for the first time in 12 years.

The lower prices could be an indicator of builders dropping prices or not charging for upgrades in hopes of reversing a sales slide from earlier this year, when sales were down 7 percent.

New home sales are on track to hit 3,955, a 2.4 percent increase. In the 10 years before the housing crash, those numbers hit 16,000 to 28,000, according to the report.

Chicago is the second most affordable big city to buy a house in the United States, but that hasn’t done much to move the housing market. A report last week from the Illinois Association of Realtors showed overall home sales down 10 percent year over year in September. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien