April Illinois Home Sales and Median Prices Tick Up from March

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- April marks the third consecutive month of home sales gains in Illinois as low mortgage interest rates and lower-priced inventories add up to affordability conditions not seen in decades. According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS® latest report, statewide home sales (including single family and condominiums) in April 2011 totaled 8,526 homes sold, up 8.5 percent from 7,856 sales in March 2011; sales were down 21.8 percent from the tax credit-bolstered sales gains of 10,897 homes sold in April 2010.

The median price in April was $136,066, up 4.7 percent from $130,000 in March 2011 and down 12.2 percent from last year in April when it was $155,000. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

"While we are seeing brisk activity in lower price ranges, the housing market will really gain some solid traction when move-up buyers stop waiting and take advantage of this very affordable time to buy," said REALTOR® Sheryl Grider Whitehurst, ABR, CRB, GRI, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and the Development and Operations Coordinator for Traders Realty in Peoria. "This really is the moment both for buyers and those who want to sell and move on because later this year the cost of homeownership will go up. Interest rates are expected to rise above their historic lows and the cost to borrow will rise, too, with changes proposed in the lending market such as higher down payment requirements."

Adds Whitehurst: "Market forces are steadily improving and factors for rising home sales are developing."

In the Chicagoland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales (single family and condominiums) totaled 5,710 homes sold, up 7.3 percent from 5,324 sales in March 2011 and down 19.2 percent from April 2010 sales of 7,070 homes. The median price in April 2011 was $162,500 in the Chicago region, up 2.8 percent from $158,000 in March 2011 and down 14.5 percent compared to last year in April when it was $190,000.

The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 4.87 percent in April 2011, even with 4.86 percent during the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Last year in April it averaged 5.17 percent.

"Promising signs continue in both the housing market and in the economy. Our sales forecast shows that the housing sales volume will continue to increase for the next two months, with a monthly growth of 11 to 16 percent for Illinois and a monthly growth of 8 to 17 percent for Chicago. The forecasts indicate that the housing market will reach its 2011 peak in June," said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois. "The economy is moving in a positive direction. Both the national and the state job market continue to show solid gains of economic recovery."

Adds Hewings: "The forecasted year-over-year sales rate in Illinois will turn positive in July, which means the effect of the homebuyer tax credit will fade out during the summer. The median prices for May, June and July are expected to be higher than April in both Chicago and Illinois."

In the city of Chicago, April home sales (single family and condominiums) totaled 1,464, up 1.0 percent from 1,450 sales in the previous month and down 26.2 percent from 1,984 homes sold in April 2010.

The city of Chicago median price for single family and condominiums in April 2011 was $205,500 up 7.6 percent compared to $191,000 in March 2011 and down 8.7 percent from a year ago in April when it was $225,000. For condominiums specifically, the median price reached $290,000 in April 2011, up 4.3 percent year-over-year from $278,012 in April 2010.  

"An incentivized market helped move more units last spring, however a competitive distressed market this year has led to an increase in the condo median homes sales price to $290,000 in the city of Chicago. Housing values are still on the lower side of the market but the value of housing and homeownership is motivating buyers to purchase homes while they can still get lower interest rates and more home within their budget," said Mabel Guzman, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and a REALTOR® with Envision Real Estate LLC, Chicago.

Thirty-three of 98 Illinois counties reporting showed year-over-year median price increases or no change for the month of April including Grundy, up 5.5 percent to $153,000; Jackson, up 22.3 percent to $101,500; Knox, up 0.4 percent to $70,250; Monroe, up 8.1 percent to $187,500; Rock Island, up 4.7 percent to $100,000; and Sangamon, up 2.4 percent to $123,000.

Sales and price information is generated from a survey of Multiple Listing Service sales reported by 35 participating Illinois REALTOR® local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC for the period April 1 through April 30, 2011. The Chicagoland PMSA, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.

The Illinois Association of REALTORS® is a voluntary trade association whose 44,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, the Illinois Association of REALTORS® works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation that safeguards and advances the interest of real property ownership.

Find Illinois market stats data at www.illinoisrealtor.org/marketstats.

SOURCE Illinois Association of REALTORS

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