Illinois housing market surges to push home sales and median prices higher

The Illinois housing market continued to recover in July with statewide home sales climbing to the highest level in recent years as buyers moved quickly to snap up available homes amid historically low interest rates, data from Illinois Realtors shows.

Figures released this past week show statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in July totaled 19,024 homes sold, up 14.6 percent from 16,604 in July 2019.

The statewide median price in July was $234,900, up 7.3 percent from July 2019, when the median price was $219,000. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

“After a delayed start, Illinois’ summer housing market kicked off in earnest in July with strong home sales and price gains,” said Ed Neaves, president of Illinois Realtors and designated managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “Buyers, perhaps driven by record-low mortgage rates, are eager to get into an increasingly competitive market and find a home.”

The time it took to sell a home in July averaged 50 days, an increase of 16.3 percent from the year before. Available inventory totaled 41,779 homes for sale, a 33.0 percent decline from 62,338 homes in July 2019.

According to the data, home sales in the Peoria MSA (Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazwell and Woodford counties) totaled 697 units, a 28.8 percent increase while the median price was up 7.3 percent to $132,000; home sales in the Rockford MSA (Boone and Winnebago counties) totaled 575 units, a 16.4 percent increase while the median price increased 14.6 percent to $149,000.

The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.02 percent in July, a decrease from 3.16 percent the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. In July 2019, it averaged 3.77 percent.

In the nine-county Chicago Metro Area, home sales (single-family and condominiums) in July totaled 13,261, up 12.0 percent from July 2019 sales of 11,841 homes. The median price in July was $277,000 in the Chicago Metro Area, an increase of 6.9 percent from $259,000 in July 2019.

“The Illinois and Chicago housing markets both recorded positive month-to-month and year-over-year increases in both prices and sales, reversing two months of declines in Illinois prices while Chicago prices continued their modest upward trend,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, emeritus director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “The price forecasts for the next three months—August, September and October—suggest positive changes in Illinois and Chicago based on median prices, but slightly negative ones for Illinois based on REAL’s Housing Price Index that takes into account housing characteristics.”

The city of Chicago saw year-over-year home sales increase 0.6 percent with 2,725 sales in July, compared to 2,708 a year ago. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in July was $330,000, up 7.5 percent from July 2019.

“In July, we finally saw closed sales and median sales prices hold steady from the previous year, a great sign that the market is bouncing back from COVID-19,” said Maurice Hampton, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and owner of Centered International Realty. “It is clear that homebuyers are still looking for more options, however, as inventory continued to decline by 13.2 percent.”

Sales and price information are generated by Multiple Listing Service data on closed sales reported by 26 participating Illinois Realtors local boards and associations including Midwest Real Estate Data LLC data as of Aug. 7, 2020 for the period July 1 to July 31, 2020. The Chicago Metro Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.

Find Illinois housing stats, data and the University of Illinois REAL forecast at www.IllinoisRealtors.org/MarketStats.

 Key housing market statistics in the Metro East released

SHILOH – According to Illinois Realtors, Illinois saw the strongest July since 2008.

Residential home sales were up from July 2019 for almost all counties in the Metro East. St. Clair County had a 19.9 percent increase. While Madison County saw a 2.5 percent increase. According to Illinois Realtors, Metro East home sales were up 11.6 percent from July 2019.

Home sales in July were up in every single county from June. St. Clair County home sales increased by 10.4 percent and Madison County saw an increase of 7.3 percent. The Metro-East saw an increase in home sales of 10.1 percent, while Illinois was up 25.6 percent, over June 2020.

St. Clair County also saw an increase in year-to-date home sales, with an increase of 1.8 percent. Year-to-Date home sales includes all homes sold from January 1 to July 31. Year-to-Date home sales were up for the entire Metro-East by 1.5 percent from 2018.

Home prices were up from July 2019 in the Metro-East. Madison County had a 7.6 percent increase, with an average home price of $185,639. St. Clair County home prices saw a large increase of 16.4 percent, with an average price of $200,899. Home prices in Illinois were up 7.3 percent from July 2019. While the Metro East was up 5.9 percent from July 2019 and 3.7 percent from June 2020. The average home price in the Metro East for July was $163,900.

“This July being the strongest July since 2008 is amazing news for Illinois. People are moving in and staying, because our state is a great place to be.” says Donna Baker, president of the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois.

Homes in St. Clair County sold faster than July 2019 by 10.1 percent. Macoupin and Jersey counties saw decreases in days on market of 46.5 percent and 15.2 percent.