Chicago Median Sales Price Dips. What Does This Mean?
October 1st, 2009 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market
Let’s get the bad news out of the way quickly: According to the latest sales statistics from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, the median sales price of existing single-family residences and condominium units in Chicago fell from the months of July to August.
The median sales price of a Chicago home hit $245,000 in July. That same figure, though, came in at only $229,476 in August. The numbers look even worse when you compare August’s median sales price to one year earlier. In August of 2008, the median existing home sales price was $297,500. That’s 22.9 percent higher than in August of this year.
This fall in the median sales price hasn’t happened for a while. In fact, the median sales price of Chicago residences was rising fairly steadily until this most recent hiccup.
So what happened? Officials with the Illinois Association of REALTORS® point to the number of distressed properties that sold in August. These condominiums and single-family homes, of course, sell for lower prices, bringing the median sales price down with them.
At the same time, the number of first-time homebuyers has been rising both in the city and across the country. These buyers are usually purchasing less expensive homes, too, again bringing down the median sales price.
In other words, the reasons for the city’s dip in housing sales prices are perfectly rational. This is not a sign that the local housing market’s recovery has ended.
Remember, home sales usually dip a bit in the late summer and throughout the fall and winter months. At the same time, many of the homes on the market in these months are priced lower. They may not have sold during the hotter spring and summer months, so their owners have had to lower their asking prices.
This all adds up, most years, to a slower fall and winter housing market.
So when you see numbers such as those released last week by the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, it’s not time to panic. The Chicago real estate market, especially in top neighborhoods such as Roscoe Village, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, River North and Lakeview, is recovering quite nicely from the long housing slump. That recovery is still underway, despite the latest numbers.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
