Chicago area luxury market has record sales this March

The sales show that Chicago's luxury housing boom isn’t slowing down.

6679 Lee Ct (Zillow)
6679 Lee Ct (Zillow)

Chicagoland’s luxury housing market is still on a roll, with three homes selling for record prices last week.

Three homes, two in suburbs and one within the city, were sold on March 18 for record prices, according to Crain’s. The sales show that Chicago’s luxury housing boom isn’t slowing down, despite inventory constraints.

A house in the Edison Park neighborhood sold for $1.13 million, while a home in the Burr Ridge Ridge suburb sold for $6.9 million, and a Lake Bluff property for $7.65 million. The sales are likely record setting real estate deals, as no public records show properties selling for more. That doesn’t account for private transactions, according to Crain’s.

The two suburban properties are included in the 23 homes in the Chicago area that have sold for at least $4 million, thus far in 2022. Should this volume continue, this year will pass last year’s total of 101 sales at or over $4 million. Last year’s total was a runaway record, at nearly twice the average of the six prior years. The two suburban homes came under contract this year.

The transactions show the Chicago housing market, and especially the luxury market, have plenty of momentum — despite outside forces like interest rates, inflation and the war in Ukraine potentially slow real estate markets nationally.

In January, Chicago had an increase in year-over-year home sales, in contrast to the national average decrease of 2.3 percent, according to a report from Compass, a national real estate brokerage company.

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The report also said Chicago’s housing inventory dropped by 32.7 percent from January 2021 to January 2022, roughly double the national average, which decreased by 16.5 percent during the same period.

The report said the spring market, the time of year when home sales typically ramp up, is already starting strong for single-family homes in Chicagoland. There is a 33.5 percent increase from this time last year with properties under contract, showing strong demand.

Pent-up demand continues to outweigh new supply, driving competition and price growth that will continue to give sellers an advantage. After steep declines in the inventory of homes available in 2020 and 2021, 44 percent of the agents expect supply to improve. Of the total, 39 percent said it will stay the same while 18 percent responded that inventory will decrease.

[Crain’s Chicago] — Miranda Davis