Chicago home sales and prices rebounded strongly in March from a surprisingly sluggish February, just in time for the all-important spring housing season.
The Illinois Realtors reported Friday a 13.1 percent jump in sales and a 10 percent climb in the median price over the last year in the Chicago area. That's good news for sellers, who have been reluctant to put homes on the market, leaving limited choices for buyers — especially those seeking starter homes.
With a scant supply of homes available, sellers have been able to push prices higher and buyers are finding sharp price increases.
The median price of a single-family home in the nine-county Chicago area was $248,000 in March — an 11.2 percent increase over a year earlier. Condo prices were up 5.4 percent to $195,000. Sales totaled 9,661, compared with 8,540 in March 2016.
In the city of Chicago, the increases have been even stronger, with sales up 15.3 percent and the median single-family home price at $235,000 — an increase of 14.6 percent. The median price on a condo jumped 7.4 percent over the last year to $327,500.
Sales at the national level are at their strongest pace in more than a decade.
After a slow recovery from the housing crash, prices now have recovered, according to Geoffrey Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He is predicting continued moderate growth in Chicago-area prices, with a 5.6 percent increase this month over March of 2016, 8.7 percent year-over-year growth in May and 8.9 percent growth in June.
"Consumers this spring have no choice but to be nimble as they find fewer homes on the market and increased competition for those homes," said Illinois Realtors President Doug Carpenter in a news release. He noted that real estate agents are reporting multiple offers on homes.
The surge in buying in March occurred as mortgage interest rates were climbing and creating a sense of urgency among some buyers. Although the average 30-year mortgage rate dipped during the last week to just below 4 percent, in March the average was 4.2 percent, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. That was up from 3.7 percent during March the previous year.
Mortgage rates have declined recently as investors have become less confident about Congress adopting tax cuts this year. The assumption earlier in the year had been that tax cuts would spur the economy.
In Cook County, sales of single-family homes and condos were up 9.9 percent over the last year, with prices up 11.6 percent to a $240,000 median price. DuPage County had a 16.1 percent jump in sales as prices climbed 10.2 percent to $270,000. The median price of single-family homes in DuPage County was $312,000.
Lake County experienced more modest growth of 9 percent in sales and a 9.7 percent price jump to $235,000. The median single-family home in Lake County sold for $258,000.
The largest increase in sales was in McHenry County, which recorded a 31.1 percent jump as prices rose 9 percent to a median of $199,450. Will and Kane counties each had sales growth of just over 23 percent. Yet the median price in Kane climbed just 6 percent to $212,000, while Will's prices were up 11.8 percent to $212,250.
