Single-family home sales in the Rockford, Ill., region rose last year to heights not seen in more than a decade and climbed even higher in January, according to the Rockford Area Association of Realtors.
Homes sold for an average of nearly $11,000 more in January, with a three-month rolling average price of $139,958, an 8.5% increase over the $128,974 average price for the same month a year ago. This was the highest average price in 13 years for January, dating to 2008 when homes sold for $143,364.
The total of 387 new listings in January represented a 28% year-over-year increase. That helped keep the housing inventory steady at 910 homes this year versus 904 last year. This was the first four-month stretch of higher or equal-to inventory levels in a dozen years. The last such stretch was a multiyear run that ended in January 2009.
Distressed sales in January were down 57% from last year, dropping from 14% of market sales in 2019 to just 6% in 2020.
Homes sold after sitting on the market for an average of 62 days, up 17% from a 53-day average in January 2019. This was the highest average in 13 months.
"Winter weather didn't dampen the interest of consumers who are looking to buy and are ready to move quickly and pay more to get the home they want," Conor Brown, CEO of the Realtors group, said in a news release. The market is still "desperate for new homes," he said.
The 4,847 homes sold in the Rockford region last year represented the largest sales volume for this market since 2007.
