CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK - January 4, 2010
Happy New Year!
What is Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's proposal to avoid another Financial and Housing Market Meltdown like the one we are still enduring?
More Stringent Regulations, first and foremost, followed by monetary policy to adjust Interest Rates, if necessary.
Read our post today via BlogChicagoHomes.com for more on Bernanke's thoughts and comments.
Here's our updated Chicago IL Real Estate Stats Pack for last Monday Morning, January 4th.
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 January 3rd 3,319 30 67 154
w/e December 27th 3,475 37 54 25
% CHANGE -4.5% -18.9% +24.1% +516.0%
CLOSED PROPERTIES DATA
AVG SALE PRICE AVG DAYS ON MKT TOTAL VOLUME
w/e January 3rd $265,304 168 DAYS $17,775,368
w/e December 27th $289,235 157 DAYS $15,618,690
% CHANGE -8.3% +7.0% +13.8%
THEORETICAL TIME TO CLEAR EXISTING INVENTORY (ABSORPTION RATE) -
w/e January 3rd - LAST 12 MOS - 10.86 LAST 6 MOS - 8.90 LAST 3 MOS - 9.51
w/e December 27th - LAST 12 MOS - 11.43 LAST 6 MOS - 9.23 LAST 3 MOS - 9.29
PERCENT OF HOMES SELLING IN 180 DAYS -
w/e January 3rd - 57.36% (UNSOLD - 42.64%)
w/e December 27th - 56.96% (UNSOLD - 43.04%)
SOURCE: MIDWEST REAL ESTATE DATA LLC, AREA MARKET SURVEY DATA
OBSERVATIONS
Active Listing Inventory has drawn down, and Expired Listings way up - typical for the first day of the year. Let's see if inventory builds toward the end of the month of January, and continues building as Spring, 2010 approaches. Fewer people made an offer to purchase a new home over the holidays, as you might expect. Therefore, Pending Sales are down, but I am a bit concerned that the spike in Listings Sold was not higher. Many buyers attempt to close before the end of the year, while others wait until the new year, for Income Tax Purposes.
Average Market Time remains high, while the Average Sales Price in the North and Northwest Side of Chicago Neighborhoods we serve frequently has see-sawed over the last few weeks. Sales Volume increased respectably, but I would have expected an even stronger end-of-year increase when the market was stronger.
Absorption Rate - the theoretical time to clear existing homes-for-sale inventory, continues to climb moderately - despite a fall in prices exceeding 18% in many Chicago Neighborhoods over the past 24 months, unsold inventory is still piling up. It did moderate in mid-2009, but, for some reason, appears to be climbing back up with the year's end. The Percentage of Homes Selling in an Estimated Six-Month Marketing Time Frame continues to improve - it now over 57%!
Here are archived annual Chicago Neighborhood Statistics, including Units Sold and Price Trends Data, for 1995 through 2008 courtesy of The Chicago Association of Realtors.
In addition, here is an Interactive Median Price Heat Map, from the Chicago Tribune Real Estate Section, covering Every Chicago Neighborhood. View the map for links to maps for Chicago Suburbs. It is updated as new data becomes available.
RATE & MARKET WATCH
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates jumped but only by 0.09%, to 5.33%, for the week ending December 30th, according to data reviewed and compiled by Bankrate.com. That is the fifth straight weekly increase
At the end of 2008, the Average 30-Year Fixed Rate stood at 5.64%, also according to Bankrate.
Over the past year, Fed Initiatives, including an aggressive program for the U.S. Treasury to purchase Mortgage-Backed Securities, has kept rates near record low levels - not seen since the mid-1950's.
The U.S. Treasury will most likely reduce their purchase of these securities later in 2010. That move, along with a possible Federal Reserve Board action to begin to increase its Fed Funds Rate, even slightly, as many economists predict, can put a bit of a chill in housing market recovery. The big question - will jobs and renewed housing demand be strong enough to counter these Federal Reserve Board actions?
For more info, here's a link to Holden Lewis's column via Bankrate.com.
For Current Trends Data for any Chicago Neighborhood or Suburb . . . call our Chicago Real Estate Team TODAY!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
