Existing home sales data for February all points to Chicago as a seller’s market.
During the month, homes sold faster and in a larger quantity than during the same period last year. At the same time, sales prices rose by double digits and total inventory dipped by nearly 16 percent.
“Now is the time to sell your home,” said Dan Wagner, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors.
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According to data from the Illinois Association of Realtors, 1,528 existing homes (single-family and condos) sold last month, which equated to a 2.1 percent year-over-year rise in activity.
A nearly 6 percent uptick in the volume of single-family sales was the reason for the overall rise in activity. Last month, 663 single-family homes sold.
Condo sales still account for a higher volume of Chicago’s total sales, 865 in February; however, activity was down last month by 0.7 percent.
An increase in overall sales activity is occurring while home prices are escalating.
The median sales price of a single-family home last month stood at $180,350, a 16.4 percent year-over-year rise. Despite relatively unchanged sales activity, prices in the condo sector rose by more than 9 percent to $284,000.
Chicago home price appreciation
Aiding overall home prices has been the decrease in foreclosure sales within the city, along with overall inventory decline.
Entering March, Chicago’s existing inventory included 7,574 homes, down 15.7 percent year-over-year. For perspective, the city’s inventory stood at nearly 9,000 properties when entering March 2015.
One reason inventory is declining: Homes are selling faster. In February, days on market for an average home stood at 60 days, down from 68 last year.
While overall Chicago appears to be a seller’s market it really comes down to neighborhood or submarket.
One neighborhood seeing a rise in its supply of single-family homes is Lakeview. The submarket had 90 homes for sales at the end of February, which equates to roughly 7.3 months of supply. The reason for the increased supply, homes are taking longer to sell.
During the first two months of this year a total of 2,921 existing homes have sold in the city, up 2.7 percent from the first two months last year.
