Report: Metro Chicago home sales bloomed in April

CHICAGO - After recording a modest first-quarter improvement, the metro Chicago housing market burst into bloom in April, RE/MAX reports.

In the seven-county metro area, both the number of homes sold and the median home sales price were 10 percent higher than in April 2015. Sales totaled 10,125 units, and the median price was $230,500.

The increased sales activity occurred despite a notable decline in the inventory of homes for sale, which totaled 34,641 at month's end, 9 percent less than at the same time last year. Based on the pace of April sales, that inventory represents just a 3.4 month supply of homes.

The average time a home sold in April spent on the market before finding a buyer was 99 days, down from 105 days a year earlier.

The RE/MAX analysis is based on home sales data for the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will collected by MRED, the regional multiple listing service.

"Demand for homes across much of the metro area is strong, boosted by the lower interest rates for mortgages that we've seen this spring," said Jack Kreider, executive vice president and regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois. "April sales growth was particularly pronounced in the collar counties, where home prices generally have not fully recovered from the decline triggered by the Great Recession. It was good to see those home values make real strides toward recovery in April."

April also saw the percentage of total home sales involving foreclosures and short sales fall to 16.3 percent, the lowest level since RE/MAX began tracking these distressed sales in 2009.