CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK - DECEMBER 3, 2007
Good Morning, Everyone!
With greater frequency in recent months, many of our home seller clients, unable to sell at the price they may have thought when they listed their homes months ago are entering "panic mode." Some are blaming our Team, or the real estate market in general, for conspiring against them. A few have even placed themselves in denial - "We never wanted to sell anyway - we've always wanted to know what it's like to pay two mortgages at the same time, old and new house." Sour grapes, perhaps!
Please check out an article written by Thursday's Chicago Tribune, written by Ellen James Martin of the Universal Press Syndicate Read our summary on BlogChicagoHomes.com here.
Here is a look at our Chicago Real Estate Stats Pack for Monday Morning, December 3, 2007. We cover single-family, small-multi family, and condos in Downtown Chicago and the entire Chicago IL area.
SINGLE FAMILY, CONDOS, AND SMALL MULTI-UNIT PROPERTIES - NORTH SIDE OF CHICAGO, NORTH OF ADDISON STREET, WEST OF ASHLAND AVENUE
ACTV LISTINGS JUST SOLD CLOSED EXPIRED
w/e December 2nd 4,625 37 101 150
w/e November 25th 4,788 32 51 64
% CHANGE -3.4% +15.6% +98.0% +134.4%
CLOSED PROPERTIES DATA
AVG SALE PRICE AVG DAYS ON MKT TOTAL VOLUME
w/e December 2nd $323,295 144 DAYS $32,652,829
w/e November 25th $334,900 142 DAYS $19,974,594
% CHANGE -3.5% +1.4% +63.5%
SOURCE: MLSNI, AREA MARKET SURVEY DATA
OBSERVATIONS
Figures for Closed Properties, Expired Listings, and Sales Volume shot up considerably, as one might predict, during the full business week after the Thanksgiving Holiday. The one figure here that most concerns me is Just Sold (Pending) Properties. In the entire North and Northwest Sides of Chicago, the areas served heavily by Dean's Team, only 37 single family houses, condos, and small multi-family buildings went under contract this week. This trend, carrying over the last several months, is a big indicator as to how the market has shifted here in Chicago - listing inventory is stable, or up, in many areas, but Just Pending properties are way down. This underscores the need to price properties for sale correctly in the first place, and make sure they show their best when visited by prospective buyers. Sellers may not get a second sales chance, quickly!
RATE AND MARKET CHECK
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates fell again last week, by 0.1%. For the week which ended on November 30th, average thirty-year fixed rate mortgage rates were 6.10%. This week in November, 2006, rates averaged 6.14%. One has to go back to October 13, 2005 to find rates as low - over two years ago. It appears that escalating rates are not the factor driving today's housing market!
"Interest rates for U.S. Treasury securities have been drifting lower this month over market concerns that the housing slump and stress in the credit markets could slow future economic growth," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "As a result, interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages had room to slip lower this week. In addition to these concerns, the Federal Reserve also noted in its November 28th Beige Book that the glut of available homes continued, keeping downward pressure on prices and construction activity."
For daily news, hot information, and trends, view our Real Estate Update newsletter. Also, visit our National Real Estate News link, via our Web Center - dean-team.com.
We at Dean's Team hope you and your family are enjoying the Holiday Season, and life has not been that stressful, even though you are navigating the shopping malls. Call us anytime if you'd like to bring real-world real estate data and market trends to your specific real estate selling or buying situation.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
