Chicago-area home sales bounce back in August

After falling in July, sales of existing homes in the Chicago area bounced back in August.

Sales increased 7.6 percent, with 11,906 homes sold in the nine-county area, up from 11,066 during August 2015, according to Illinois Realtors. The median price increased 4.5 percent to $230,000.

In the city of Chicago, home sales rose 2.6 percent with a median price of $275,000, a 1.5 percent increase. The condo market was relatively flat, with sales up less than 1 percent, and the median price down slightly to $304,000.

Across the state, home sales increased 6.7 percent over last year. The late summer surge saw 16,455 homes sold statewide, compared with 15,415 in August 2015, according to Illinois Realtors. The median sale price was $192,000, up from $180,000 a year ago.

The August gains came despite low inventory, with 14.8 percent fewer homes on the market than a year ago, the real estate trade group said.

“What’s remarkable are the strong gains we saw statewide despite a market that has been bedeviled by a lack of inventory,” Mike Drews, president of Illinois Realtors, said in a Thursday news release.

The statewide trends played out in suburban DuPage County, where sales were up 9.9 percent in August. But dwindling inventories and a softening luxury home market have already made for a “really quiet” September, according to Denise Gill, an agent in Baird & Warner’s Glen Ellyn/Wheaton office.

“I’m seeing fewer homes on the market,” Gill said Thursday. “I’m also seeing there are not as many buyers out right now.”

Gill said sellers are pulling their homes from the market earlier than usual, exacerbating the tight supply.

“We’re starting to see people take their homes off the market and wait until next spring,” Gill said. “Usually they don’t do that until mid-November.”

Illinois homes also sold more quickly last month, with the average time on the market dropping to 55 days, down from 64 days a year ago. The average commitment rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.44 percent in August, unchanged from July but down from a year ago, when rates averaged 3.9 percent, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

In July, Chicago-area home sales fell sharply, down 7.3 percent, the first year-over-year decline since November 2015. July home sales across the state dropped 6.8 percent over the previous year. At the time, Illinois Realtors pointed to the low inventory as the cause of the one-month drop. With inventory still depressed, renewed declines are projected for the rest of the year.

“Sales recovered in August and prices continue to show positive annual gains,” Geoffrey Hewings, director of the Regional Economic Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois, said in the release. “However, month-to-month sales forecasts suggest a downward trend for the next three months, driven in part by low inventories, the poor job recovery in Illinois and uncertainties about the presidential election.”

Statewide, 55 counties reported year-over-year sales gains for August, according to Illinois Realtors.

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