Residential sales and prices in the Chicago area saw big gains last month with the biggest spike in home sales since September 2013.
Across nine counties, 13,360 homes sold in August, a year-over-year increase of nearly 20 percent, according to data from trade group Illinois Realtors first reported by Crain’s. In the Windy City alone, 2,813 homes sold, up 8.2 percent from 2019.
“The Chicago market was hot in August as homebuyers took advantage of record-low mortgage rates,” Maurice Hampton, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors, said in comments accompanied the data. “The spike in sales reflects increasing desires for greater space as a result of the ongoing pandemic.”
The median price of a home sold in Chicago in August was $335,000, up more than 15 percent from a year earlier — the biggest year-over-year-increase since March 2014.
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The report is a major point of redemption for the market as it comes just months after Cook County was ranked among the top 50 most vulnerable housing markets in the U.S., according to a second quarter report from Attom Data Solutions. Six other counties across Illinois were also listed as poor performers.
Things started to pick up in July, when showings and the number of homes in contract began to rebound.
Meanwhile, the final week of summer saw a surge in demand for mortgages from homebuyers and homeowners alike nationwide. [Crain’s] — Sasha Jones