CHICAGO—After a relatively tough 2014, the metro Chicago housing market bloomed in the past several weeks as warmer weather returned. March home sales activity hit its highest level since 2006, according to an analysis by RE/MAX. In the seven-county metro area, a total of 8,078 home sale transactions were closed in March, 13% more than the 7,169 sales in March of last year and slightly more than the 8,057 sales transactions recorded in March 2007.
RE/MAX officials based their analysis on sales data gathered by MRED LLC, the regional multiple listing service.
Home prices followed a similar trajectory, with the median sales price for homes in the metro area reaching $205,000, 16% higher than in March of last year and the highest March median since 2008.
“2014 was not as strong a year generally as 2013 had been,” Jim Merrion, regional director of the Elgin, IL-based RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network, tells GlobeSt.com. However, through March, for the 2200 RE/MAX agents in the region “2015 is running ahead of 2014, and very close to 2013 in number of transactions and over 12% ahead of 2013 in sales volume.”
“The gains we saw in March resulted primarily from a combination of strong demand and an expanding inventory of homes for sale,” he adds. “Plus, mortgage interest rates remain extremely attractive. We anticipate the current trends to continue through the next two quarters at a minimum.”
Another factor was the shrinking percentage of transactions that involved short sales or foreclosures. In March, distressed homes accounted for 28% of all sales in the metro Chicago area, compared to 37% of March sales a year earlier and 44% in 2012.
Sales activity rose in six of the seven counties, led by Will County, which saw a 22% gain. And median sales price rose in all seven countries, including a 19% increase in Cook. Chicago had a 15% increase in sales and an 11% gain in the median price.
“For 2015, consumer confidence has definitely improved, despite uncertain world events, and more consumers are in a position of positive equity, enabling them to move up, which begets another transaction,” Merrion says. “Additionally, the recovering price of homes has consumers feeling that if they don't act now, it will cost more to do so later.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
