March 2009 Housing Numbers cont.

For the second month in a row existing homes sold increased in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

In the Chicago Metropolitan (nine-county) Area, home sales were up 38.3 percent (4,260 homes sold in March 2009 vs. 3,081 home sales in February 2009).

The median home sale price for the Chicago area was up 5.7 percent ($194,000 in March 2009 vs. $183,500 in February 2009)

For the city of Chicago, March 2009 home sales (single-family and condos) were up 40.6 percent (1,181 sales vs. 840).

The median price for homes in the City of Chicago also rose 0.8 percent ($220,000 in March 2009 vs. $218,125 in February 2009)

State of the Real Estate Market

Nothing really surprising with the new housing numbers. Being that short sales and foreclosures continue to make up more than half of the housing sales I fully expect the median sales prices to continue to fall. Short sales and foreclosures present the best opportnity to purchase properties at a discount and most of these sales are $300,000 or less. This is great if you are a first-time home buyer or do not need to sell your home in order to purchase one. Unfortunately that is not the majority of would-be home buyers.

You can also expect the number of foreclosures to rise once the 90 day reprive expires (the amount of time given to homeowners to negotiate with their lenders before their lender begins the foreclosure process). I know the government meant well granting this 90 day window, but if someone lost their job, how are they going to pay for their mortgage anyway?

March 2009 Housing Numbers

According to the Illinois Association of Realtors the nine-county Chicago region saw home sales fall by 26% and a decrease of 42% in housing sales in the city of Chicago vs. the same period last year.

Housing prices continue to fall as well. For the nine-county Chicago region, the median home price (where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less) was $194,000 vs. $248,000, a decrease of 21.8% for the same period a year ago. The news was even worse for the city of Chicago where the median price fell to $220,000 from $300,980 last March.

The nine-county Chicago region consists of the following counties: Cook County, DeKalb County, DuPage County, Grundy County, Kane County, Kendall County, Lake County, McHenry County and Will County.