Suburban Home Prices Start 2015 on Solid Note

The suburban Chicago housing market posted solid numbers to start 2015, according to statistics released today by the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe). Median sales prices of detached homes were up 5.7 percent compared to the same period last year, and the number of homes that went under contract last month increased 31.4 percent over January 2014, the largest year-over-year increase since August 2013.

Despite an overall decline of 3.2 percent in sales volume in MORe's region - which includes about 200 communities in DuPage, Lake and suburban Cook counties - some municipalities, like Crete, Franklin Park and Lake Villa, saw sales more than double, according to information provided by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC.

"Consumer confidence was at its highest rate in January since August 2007, which is borne out in the surge in homes under contract," said Pradeep Shukla, president of MORe and managing broker of RE/MAX Renaissance in Des Plaines. "While sales volume is down, the total value of homes sold is increasing."

Looking ahead, Shukla said sales, which are typically slow in January, will continue to improve through the spring. "The numbers, overall, are consistent with what we've seen in previous months: slow, steady growth in prices and pockets of increased sales activity throughout our region."

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