CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK - February 25, 2008
Good Morning, Everyone!
Buy NOW, or Wait? That's the quandary for many home buyers today, unsure if prices will fall further on homes they are considering. Mortgage rates remain low, however, and many homes and investment properties previously out of reach for many buyers are now priced more competitively than in recent years. Perhaps now is the time to take advantage of these now-value-priced properties!
See our posting today on BlogChicagoHomes.com, with links to Lew Sichelman's article in today's Chicago Tribune.
Here's our updated Chicago IL Real Estate Stats Pack for Monday Morning, February 25th.
Communities and clients we serve reside, or plan to reside, in the Chicago Neighborhoods of The Chicago Loop, The Gold Coast, River North, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Uptown, Edgewater, North Center, Lincoln Square, Albany Park, Ravenswood, Wicker Park, and Bucktown.
Also, these Great Chicago Neighborhoods: Logan Square, Rogers Park , West Ridge, Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, Sauganash, Edgebrook, and Edison Park. Plus All Chicago Suburbs.
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 February 24th 4,404 58 43 41
w/e February 17th 4,349 60 30 42
% CHANGE +2.6% -3.3% +43.3% -2.4%
CLOSED PROPERTIES DATA
AVG SALE PRICE AVG DAYS ON MKT TOTAL VOLUME
w/e February 24th $333,106 159 DAYS $14,323,570
w/e February 17th $333,057 163 DAYS $ 9,991,728
% CHANGE +-0.0% -2.5% +43.4%
THEORETICAL TIME TO CLEAR EXISTING INVENTORY (ABSORPTION RATE) -
w/e February 24th - LAST 12 MOS - 12.83 LAST 6 MOS - 22.79 LAST 3 MOS - 48.14
w/e February 17th - LAST 12 MOS - 12.48 LAST 6 MOS - 22.67 LAST 3 MOS - 48.55
PERCENT OF HOMES SELLING IN 180 DAYS -
w/e February 24th - 22.02% (UNSOLD - 77.99%)
w/e February 17th - 22.92% (UNSOLD - 77.08%)
SOURCE: MLSNI, AREA MARKET SURVEY DATA
OBSERVATIONS
Total Active Listings increased this week - perhaps more sellers are listing their properties in advance of the Spring selling season - but not a substantial jump. Properties Pending Sale still sluggish. Sales Volume up this week to just better than average levels over the last 4 weeks, and Average Sales Price about the same, washing a considerable drop last week. The Average Market Time still very high.
Absorption Rate and Percentage of Sale Within Six Month (180 Days) remain stubbornly high. In aggregate, a over a four-year theoretical supply of properties for sale exists in the North and Northwest Side of Chicago areas we serve. The chances of selling a home within a normal six-month marketing time frame dipped to 22.02%, very close to last week's 22.92% figure - still very high!
Extremely high inventory, and weakened demand, continues to impact the Real Estate Market on the North and Northwest Sides of the City of Chicago.
RATE AND MARKET CHECK
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates were up again last week - 0.34%, at an average of 6.04% nationwide - over 1/3 higher than last week, when the rates averaged 5.72%. Rates are still lower than they were this week in 2007, when average fixed rates were 6.30%.
"After trending up in the past two weeks, long-term fixed mortgage rates are back up to nearly where they were at the beginning of the year. In contrast, average rates on adjustable-rate mortgages are about 0.5 percentage points below levels of the first week of this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "As the spread between long-term fixed-rates and adjustable-rates widens, it's possible we could see a slight increase in the popularity of adjustable-rate mortgages.
"In Wednesday's release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's most recent meeting, the Federal Reserve reduced its forecast of economic growth for this year to a rate of 1.3 to 2.0 percent, down from the 1.8 to 2.5 percent forecast from last October. The sluggish housing market and tight credit conditions were among the factors contributing to lowered projections.
"Indeed, although January's housing starts showed an increase from December's level, the gains were from multifamily properties. Single-family construction in January fell to the lowest level since January 1991 and especially weak were single-family housing starts in the West, which experienced the slowest pace of construction since the beginning of the series in 1959."
For daily news, hot information, and trends, view our Real Estate Update newsletter, via our Web Center - dean-team.com.
Need specific Real Estate Trends Analysis for your neighborhood, or an area you are considering? Please call!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
