Illinois median home prices stagnant in third quarter
The credit crunch and sub-prime mortgage mess continue to burden the housing market in Illinois as median home prices in the state rose .7 percent in the third quarter, according to a report Tuesday by the Illinois Association of Realtors.
The association also forecasted slower sales for the period of October through December.
Also Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported total housing construction rose by 3 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.229 million units. All the strength occurred in a hefty rebound in apartment building construction. The single-family sector actually fell by 7.3 percent to an annual rate of 884,000 units, the slowest pace since October 1991. In another worrisome sign, applications for building permits fell for a fifth straight month.
The median home sale price in Illinois grew to $209,000 from $207,500 in the same quarter last year, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors. The median is the price where half the homes sold for more, half for less. The average sale price for the third quarter was $270,632, up 3 percent from $262,559 over the same period last year.
The report by the association, a trade group comprised of 60,000 members, analyzed price information from a survey of Multiple Listing Service sales reported by 35 participating Illinois Realtor local boards and associations.
"I'm amazed they're up at all," said Eileen Landau, a Realtor with Naperville-based Realty Executives Realtors. "I am seeing price reductions left and right and I'm seeing tons of homes sitting on the market unsold," she said.
Landau said she started seeing prices drop in April 2006.
In the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will, the median home sales price increased 4.2 percent to $262,500 in the third quarter compared with $252,000 in the same period last year.
Third-quarter total home sales, comprising single-family homes and condominiums, dropped 16.3 percent to 39,519 from 47,217 in the year-ago period.
Despite the decline in sales, Mary Schaefer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Association of Realtors, was optimistic. "Looking at some of the other states, really, Illinois is holding pretty well on its own," she said. "Illinois is kind of mirroring what's going on in the Midwestern section of the country."
The association forecasts slower sales for October through December from the same period in 2006 with prices to remain about the same.