Chicago area inventory shrinks, even as the number of homes sold decreases

Across the Chicago area, "for sale" signs are not staying up for long. The average number of days on the market for detached homes in April was 36 days (down 32.1% from last year) and for attached homes, it was 31 days (down 32.6% from last year). The number of homes sold in April also took a dip with detached homes sold down 16.9% from last year and attached homes sold down 15.0%.

Across the market, inventory is tighter than ever. With median home prices high and federal interest rates continuing to rise, it's a challenging time to be a homebuyer. The federal reserve indicated interest rates may rise by another half-point, so prospective homebuyers shouldn't be deterred from buying now.

"Don't wait to buy real estate," Mainstreet Board of Directors President John LeTourneau said. "Buy real estate and wait."

The sentiment LeTourneau shares is that he does not anticipate the shortage of inventory to slow down anytime soon. For homebuyers, doing the hard work now and paying a little extra upfront outweighs the high mortgage rate payments new homeowners may face if they wait for the federal reserve to increase interest rates once again.

The following suburbs saw a strong decrease in the average days on market for detached single-family homes: Aurora (40.0% decrease in average days on market); Bartlett (-66.7%); Chicago Ridge (-72.8%); Des Plaines (-55.9%); Downers Grove (-61.3%); Glenwood (-67.3%); Hanover Park (-51.2%); Itasca (-76.15); Mount Prospect (-45.4%); Oak Brook (-45.7%); River Grove (-25.7%); Schiller Park (-35.1%); and Vernon Hills (-71.7%).

"If you're a prospective homebuyer, hop off of the fence now and invest in your future," Mainstreet CEO John Gormley said.