The Rockford housing market continues to outpace the rest of Illinois in sales gains and year-over-year price increases, the Rockford Area Realtors said in a press release.
Winnebago County is among 34 of 102 Illinois counties that reported sales gains for July 2017 over July 2016. It's also included in the 53 Illinois counties showing year-over-year price increases, according to data collected by the Realtors group.
Exactly 460 Rockford area properties were sold in August, up from 454 homes sold in August 2016. Home sales were up 1.3%, compared to down 3.9% for the entire state. Median prices went up 7%, which was 2 percentage points more than the state overall.
Last month, the three-month rolling average price of a Rockford home was $133,079, the highest average price of the year, and the highest average for any month dating back to December 2008, when prices hit $136,400, according to the Realtors association.
"Home prices have come a long way since the housing recession," said Steve Bois, CEO of Rockford Area Realtors, in the news release. "Somewhat surprising, Rockford continues to outpace the Illinois housing market. Rockford home prices continue to reach new highs."
Bois said the August price bump pushed the average home price 41% above the January 2012 bottom price of $94,371 recorded during the housing recession.
Total monthly inventory rose to 1,335 properties in August — the highest monthly total of the year. However, total inventory was down 233 properties from August 2016.
With home prices constantly shifting, "it's important for both buyers and sellers to stay abreast of real-time marketing pricing trends," Bois said.
