CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK - December 1, 2008
Good Morning!
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday, and your time off with your family and friends!
Will lower mortgage interest rates, the result of FED Intervention by purchasing mortgage and other consumer-credit-backed securities last week, be the magic trigger to turn around the U.S. Housing Market? Likely . . . NO!
Today, in Chicago and across the U.S., homes-for-sale inventories are still extremely high, and median home prices continue to tumble. Add in rising unemployment, at the national and local levels, as well as the general feeling that prices on homes will continue to fall, and many potential homebuyers are still not jumping off the fence to buy despite lower mortgage interest rates.
Read more via our post today at BlogChicagoHomes.com.
Here's our updated Chicago IL Real Estate Stats Pack for Monday Morning, December 1st.
Communities and clients we serve, reside, or plan to reside, include 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 December 1st 4,593 18 52 63
w/e November 24th 4,662 40 51 60
% CHANGE -1.5% -55.0% +2.0% +5.0%
CLOSED PROPERTIES DATA
AVG SALE PRICE AVG DAYS ON MKT TOTAL VOLUME
w/e December 1st $266,515 157 DAYS $13,858,780
w/e November 24th $303,648 157 DAYS $15,046,048
% CHANGE -12.2% -0.0% -7.9%
THEORETICAL TIME TO CLEAR EXISTING INVENTORY (ABSORPTION RATE) -
w/e December 1st - LAST 12 MOS - 15.17 LAST 6 MOS - 14.32 LAST 3 MOS - 17.73
w/e November 24th - LAST 12 MOS - 15.34 LAST 6 MOS - 14.05 LAST 3 MOS - 16.49
PERCENT OF HOMES SELLING IN 180 DAYS -
w/e December 1st - 39.13% (UNSOLD - 60.87%)
w/e November 24th - 39.79% (UNSOLD - 60.21%)
SOURCE: MIDWEST REAL ESTATE DATA LLC, AREA MARKET SURVEY DATA
OBSERVATIONS
Historically, the period between Thanksgiving and New Years Day is the slowest time on the annual real estate calendar. This week's numbers, showing sizable drop-offs in Pending Units and Sales Volume, bears this out.
Active Listing Inventory showed a slight fall, while Closed Units, properties that went under contract several weeks ago, as well as Expired Listings, showed stability. Average Sales Price fell over 12% this week, indicating the serious downward price correction here in the North and Northwest Side of Chicago Neighborhoods we serve continues.
Average Market Time was unchanged over the past week.
Absorption Rate, or theoretical time to clear existing listing inventory, skyrocketed last week! It now stands at 17.73 months, up 7.5% versus last week. Indeed, it seems as if homes-for-sale inventory is actually INCREASING in some neighborhoods in the City of Chicago.
However, the Percentage of Sale Within Six Month (180 Days) continued stable last week - just over 29% of listings we monitor here closely sell in a normal six-month marketing time frame, but it seems the houses that do sell in a timely manner are priced correctly, and staged properly.
Here are archived annual Chicago Neighborhood Statistics, including Units Sold and Price Trends Data, for 1992 through 2007, courtesy of The Chicago Association of Realtors.
RATE & MARKET WATCH
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates plummeted this past week - down 0.36%, to 5.97%, for the week ending November 26th, according to Bankrate.com. One year ago, the Average 30-Year Fixed Rate was 6.17%.
Last week, the fed announced that it would purchase in excess of $500 Billion of Mortgage-Backed Securities beginning in December. That announcement alone triggered a 1/2% drop in average mortgage interest rates almost immediately, although some of that drop was erased the following day. For a brief period Tuesday afternoon, qualified consumers could find 30-Year Fixed Rate Loans as low as 5.25%.
According to Holden Lewis at Bankrate.com, it seems clear the Federal Reserve Board wants to drive down rates to encourage home buying. Whether this will work, in light of other negative economic news, or how long the rates will stay below 6% is yet to be seen.
See Lewis's post via Bankrate.com for more detailed analysis and rate comparisons versus last week.
For daily news, hot information, and trends, view our Real Estate Update newsletter, via our Web Center - dean-team.com.
Need specific trends data for any Chicago Neighborhood or Suburb? Call us TODAY!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
