CHICAGO—The state's housing market saw its customary spring jump in March, although compared to last year, sales in some key regions were flat, and the housing supply is low for the season, according to the Illinois REALTORS®. Statewide home sales totaled 11,900 homes sold, up 1.9% from 11,676 in March 2015.

The statewide median price in March was $172,000, up 4.3% from March 2015 when the median price was $164,950. The time it took to sell a home in March averaged 77 days, down from 85 days a year ago. Available housing inventory totaled 58,613 homes for sale, a 12.3% decline from March 2015 when there were 66,852 homes on the market.

“I think many people, both buyers and sellers, still feel uncertain about the economy,” Illinois REALTORS® president Mike Drews, broker-associate with Charles B. Doss Co. in Aurora, tells GlobeSt.com. And the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election, and the state's budget and what that could mean for property taxes, has not helped ease minds. “We are also moving through the short sales and foreclosures, and there are fewer and fewer of them.”

“Consumers this spring will be challenged to find just the right property from a diminished pool of homes to choose from,” he adds. “Based on increasing median prices and average days on market, it's clear if they do find the home of their dreams they are going to have to move quickly and be prepared in some instances to pay more in the face of heightened competition.”

In the nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales in March 2016 totaled 8,386 homes sold, up just 0.8% from last March's sales of 8,317 homes. The median price in March 2016 was $210,000 in the Chicago PMSA, up 4.0% from $202,000 in March 2015.

“March recorded the usual monthly surge in sales in both Chicago and Illinois,” says Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “However, median prices did not change very much with the major source of growth in prices coming from increases in the prices of foreclosed properties. Consumer sentiment nationally seems to reflect some uncertainties about the direction of the economy, no doubt exacerbated by vagaries of the election cycle.”

The city of Chicago saw a 3.4% year-over-year home sales decrease in March 2016 with 2,099 sales, down from 2,173 in March 2015. And the median price of a home in the city of Chicago in March 2016 was $268,500, up 3.3% compared to March 2015 when it was $260,000.

“There is nothing cataclysmic happening there,” Drews says, even if sales were a bit flat compared to last year. “The market is still strong.” For example, some homes now only last a few days on the market and attract multiple offers.

“With more properties coming on the market as consumers embrace the spring selling season, we should see inventories better able to meet significant buyer demand,” says Dan Wagner, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and senior vice president for government relations at the Oakbrook-based Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. “Homes are selling faster than they were last year, so consumers need to act quickly if they are interested in buying.”

Instant Insights /

Illinois Home Prices Climb, But Inventory Remains Low

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