Strong Chicago homes sales in December set stage for a robust 2022

Chicago’s housing market closed December on a high note, setting the stage for a robust 2022.

The median price of city homes rose 3.3 percent to $315,000 last month from December 2020, according to trade group Illinois Realtors. In the nine-county metropolitan area, the median price increased 8.7 percent to $288,000.

“Despite a continued decline in inventory in December, caused by market seasonality and inventory shortages, we still saw positive momentum in the Chicago market,” Antje Gehrken, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors.

Low interest rates and pandemic-prompted moves to larger homes to accommodate remote work led to strong sales last month, said David Schawbe, a Compass agent. “Houses that were on the market for a long time were going under contract because there was no inventory,” he said.

Most agents including Coldwell Banker’s Dawn McKenna expect Chicago’s housing market frenzy to continue in 2022. About 4,100 homes in the Chicago metropolitan area came on the market in the first week of January, dropping 25 percent from the same time a year ago, according to Midwest Real Estate Data.

“In Hinsdale, I had 113 listings last year and right now I have eight,” McKenna previously told TRD. “We are knocking on doors. I’ve never done that in my entire career.”