Stimulus helps bump up local homes sales

Suburban single-family homes that provided more bang for the buck helped lift the real estate market in the past year. But the year-over-year numbers were still distressing.

The Illinois Association of Realtors said Thursday that total home sales in the Chicago and suburban area in March were down roughly 28 percent, compared to a year ago. But when the city of Chicago was separated from the suburban data, the city sales plunged 42 percent.

That differential likely is due to the power of single-family homes versus condos, which are predominantly sold in the city, said Pat Callan, Illinois Association of Realtors president, who also heads the Realty Executive Premiere office in Wheaton.

"Generally, you're seeing a resurgence in the suburbs because of the single-family housing and the price differences, compared to the city of Chicago," Callan said. "You can get more square footage for your home in the suburbs than in the city."

The Realtors report also said that home sales were up 35.5 percent in March to 6,944, compared to the previous month. But the year-ago numbers were more discouraging, down 26 percent for the region in March, compared to March 2008. The worst hit was DuPage County, where sales plunged about 30 percent compared to a year ago.

Still, suburban Realtors remained optimistic.

"We're still going in the right direction," said Callan. "Those distressed home sales needed to be flushed out of the system, and we're beginning to see that now."

The report also said the Illinois median price in March was $149,995, up 6.6 percent compared to $140,700 in February. But it was down 21.1 percent from $190,000 in March 2008. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

In the Chicago region, home sales were up 38.3 percent to 4,260 homes sold in March, compared to 3,081 home sales in February. But March sales were down 26 percent from 5,759 home sales in March 2008.

The median home sale price for the Chicago region was $194,000 in March, up 5.7 percent from $183,500 in February 2009. The median price is down 21.8 percent from $248,000 in March 2008.

While the month-to-month numbers showed promise, some mortgage professionals weren't as enthusiastic. Despite the historically low interest rates, they haven't seen the same uptick.

"We're actually doing fewer new mortgages compared to a year ago," said Chris Barnes, mortgage adviser with Biltmore Financial Bancorp Inc. in Palatine and South Barrington. "We've been doing more refinancing because of the lower interest rates. But the new purchases are very slow."

Another report issued Thursday showed similar news.

Home sales in the nine-county region around Chicago showed 10,317 units sold during the first quarter, a decline of 26.6 percent from the same period last year, according to RE/MAX Northern Illinois and Midwest Real Estate Data LLC.

Still, the data shows that the homes that are selling are lower priced and often by first-time home buyers. About 45 percent have been first-time homebuyers, said Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois in Elgin.

"We've been seeing a greater number of first-time home buyers now, compared to last year, and we attribute a lot of that to the lower-priced homes and FHA loans."

The report also said that the lower mortgage rates helped some towns. For example, the report said Addison saw home sales rise from 17 in the first quarter of last year to 29 in the first three months of 2009. But the median price of a home sold in Addison fell 39 percent from $204,500 to $125,000.

But that wasn't the case in every town. The report also showed that 25 suburbs had their median sales price of detached homes increase, and in 10 of those communities the number of units sold also rose.

This was evident in Bensenville, where homes sold during the quarter rose from 11 to 16 and the median price was up 28 percent to $195,500.

Here's a look at the local housing market.

Home sales, Feb.-March County March 2009 Feb. 2009 % Change Cook 2,409 1,742 38.3% DuPage 446 340 31.2% Kane 225 188 19.7% Lake 385 233 65.2% McHenry 187 140 33.6% Will 391 302 29.5%

Home sales, annual change County March 2008 March 2009 % Change/Gain Cook 3,432 2,409 -27.7% DuPage 623 446 -30.2% Kane 309 225 -28.4% Lake 445 385 -25.6% McHenry 215 187 -21.1% Will 501 391 -17.4%

Notes: Information based on multiple listing service sales. Cook County includes the city of Chicago as well as the suburbs.

Source: Illinois Association of Realtors

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=288912">March new home sales down 0.6 percent <span class="date">[04/24/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/homesales309.pdf">Local housing figures</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>