Illinois 3Q11 Home Sales Up 19.9 Percent from a Year Ago

According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS (IAR) third quarter 2011 report, Illinois home sales (which include single-family homes and condominiums) totaled 29,644 in the third quarter, up 19.9 percent from 24,719 home sales in the same period a year ago. The third quarter statewide median home sale price was $145,500, down 4.9 percent from $153,000 in the third quarter of 2010. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

“While median prices continue to trend downwards, there is some indication of increased demand as inventory levels in certain price ranges have been shrinking,” said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois. “In the third quarter, 64.1 percent of homes were sold in the price range under $200,000.”

Adds Hewings: “On the jobs front, the three-month moving average of jobs was up by 5,400 jobs per month for the state of Illinois through September. Uncertainty remains about the economy, and if we had six or nine months of robust growth, something in the order of 150,000 to 250,000 jobs nationally, then we would see some real uptick in the housing market.”

In the Chicagoland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) total home sales (single-family and condominiums) were up 20.2 percent in the third quarter of 2011 to 19,847 homes sold compared to 16,518 home sales in the same period a year ago. The nine-county region’s third quarter 2011 median price was $174,500, down 7.5 percent from $188,666 in the third quarter of 2010.