Despite pandemic, Chicagoland home sales grew in 2020

Although the pandemic put a damper on the spring market, sales of detached single-family homes in Chicagoland rebounded quickly, ending the year with a 12.8% increase in sales compared to 2019. These statistics, released today by the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS (MORe), also show more modest growth in attached home sales, with the year's total up 4.5% from 2019.

With high demand for homes in the area, prices also rose for both detached and attached homes. The median sale price of detached homes increased 8.4%, from $267,500 to $289,900, while the median sale price of attached homes increased 4.1%, from $172,400 to $179,500.

"This year's historically low interest rates are doing exactly what they are meant to do," MORe CEO John Gormley said. "Even as home prices rise, the low interest rates mean that buyers are getting more for their money, and these low rates are helping to stimulate our local economy in a difficult year."

Home sales typically decrease toward the end of the year, but a combination of factors pushed December sales well above their typical levels. Over a thousand more detached homes were sold in December 2020 compared to December 2019, for an increase of 37.8%. Attached homes saw an increase of 31.0%.

"In this type of market, homes are selling fast and working with a REALTOR is more critical than ever," MORe Board of Directors President Linda Dressler said. "A Mainstreet REALTOR® can help a seller appropriately price their home and prepare for what could be a very rapid sale. On the other side of the equation, a Mainstreet REALTOR® will go above and beyond to help a buyer find the home that fits their needs even when there are limited options."

Mainstreet recently held an Economic Outlook event, "The 3 Rs" of Real Estate and the Economy: Reinvent, Recharge, Reignite, at which Dr. Ted C. Jones, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at Stewart Title, shared his real estate predictions. His observations echoed those seen in the data.

"Housing's hot, because it has the highest intrinsic value of our lifetimes," Jones said. "The more time we spend in our homes, the more it impacts the quality of our lifestyle."

In Chicagoland, the following suburbs saw particularly large leaps in the number of detached single-family homes sold throughout 2020: Beecher (30.9% increase in number of detached homes sold); Burnham (56.5%); Burr Ridge (32.9%); Clarendon Hills (39.2%); Downers Grove (27.5%); Green Oaks-Libertyville (37.1%); Hainesville-Grayslake (29.1%); Hinsdale (27.0%); Hoffman Estates (27.7%); Ingleside (37.2%); La Grange (27.2%); Lemont (29.0%); Long Grove-Lake Zurich-Hawthorn Woods-Kildeer (26.6%); Monee-Unincorporated Monee (42.0%); Prospect Heights (27.4%); Riverside (50.0%); Sugar Grove (27.7%); Willow Springs (43.8%); Willowbrook (33.8%); Winfield (29.4%); and Woodridge (28.3%).

According to Jones, the coronavirus pandemic has made permanent changes in how people look for, buy and sell real estate, and solidified the importance of technology in every step of the process, from marketing a property to closing on it. These trends will be a driving force in the local market in 2021 and beyond.