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Home prices in Illinois jump 3 percent in October: report
Total home sales decreased in Illinois in October, but sales prices were up
While the number home sales dipped slightly in October, prices for homes sold throughout the state last month continued their steady growth.
Statewide home sales in October totaled 13,035, down 0.2 percent year over year, when 13,056 homes sold, according to a report from the Illinois Realtors Association. The median price of a home sale in October, however, jumped by nearly 3 percent.
The statewide median price in October was $190,000, an increase of 2.7 percent year over year, when the median price was $185,000, according to the report.
Some of the price increase can be chalked up to low inventory, with the number of homes for sale dropping 2.6 percent in October to 58,731. Inventory was at an 11-year low for single-family homes this spring.
“A stabilization is taking place in many areas of the market — demand and prices are fairly steady, inventory continues to decline, albeit less sharply, and buyers are regaining some power,” Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors and a broker at Keller Williams Chicago, said in a statement.
In the nine-county Chicago metro area, home sales were down nearly 2 percent year over year, with 9,038 homes sold in October. The median sales price jumped 3.6 percent to $230,000, according to the report.
Home prices have been going up in part because the low inventory is mostly at the starter-home level, with a glut of inventory at the luxury level.
Despite that, the luxury market has had a banner year in 2018, tallying as many luxury home sales through three quarters than were recorded in all of 2016 or 2017.
The inventory woes, however, were not enough to stall the Chicago housing market in October, which was one of the best Octobers for home sales since the recession.
“While homebuyers may be frustrated by a lack of available homes and higher prices in some areas, those dynamics are not enough to overcome a desire to make a purchase as we close in on the holiday season,” Ed Neaves, president-elect of Illinois Realtors, said in a statement.