IN CHICAGO AREA, Home Resales Rise for Third Straight Month . . . But Prices Continue Downward Trend!
CHICAGO SHOWS FIRST YEAR-OVER-YEAR SALES INCREASE SINCE MAY, 2006! CHICAGO SUBURBAN HOME SALES UP AS WELL!
Here in Chicago, September, 2009 Housing Resale Figures mix good news with bad news!
The combined Units Sold total for condominiums and single-family-detached homes rose 5.9% last month, to a total of 6,862 homes, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors, in a story reported by Chicago Tribune Real Estate Columnist Mary Ellen Polmolik.
On the other side of the coin, however, median sales prices continued their free fall.
Across the nine-county Chicago Metro Area, the median sales price of homes and condos stood at $199,000 at the end of last month. That's down 10.8% from the same time last year, and is 22.7% lower than September, 2007 - two years ago.
Far-suburban Kendall County exemplified the opposite numbers. In Kendall, Condo and Single-Family-Home units sold climbed 26.2% for the month ending September 30th versus last year. However, the median home price county-wide fell 22% over September, 2008 - to $177,000.
In the City of Chicago, the number of units sold rose 5.8% last month, to 1,918 total properties closed. Since September, 2008, the median price for homes and condos sold in Chicago has fallen 16.2%.
Why the key numbers heading in different directions?
Many of the sold homes are held by distressed owners, many facing imminent foreclosure. Many other homes have already been foreclosed by the bank. Most sell to first time homebuyers, flush with promised cash from the Fed First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000. That credit is due to expire on November 30th, unless extended or expanded by the U.S. Congress.
With no current house to sell, these first-time buyers have greater purchase flexibility, and more liquid funds, than move-up buyers needing to sell their old home before they pack up and move. According to National Association of Realtors Estimates, First-Time Buyers make up roughly 45% of all home purchases nationally over the past year.
How will the numbers fare in coming months? Will prices begin to turn up in addition to sold units.
Much depends on the improvement of the economy, reducing unemployment, and the level of increased stringency of mortgage lenders, hoping to make sure our credit crisis does not re-ignite once again.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
