Home sales in the metropolitan Chicago area continued to rise in May despite a continuing decline in inventory levels, RE/MAX of Northern Illinois reported Tuesday.
Sales rose 6.2% from May, 2016 and the median sales price climbed 6% to $249,000. The average time it took one of those homes to find a buyer fell to 77 days from 87 days in May of last year.
At the same time, the number of homes on the market at the end of May was down 16%from the year-earlier total and represented just a 2.6-month supply based on the May sales pace.
“Demand for homes remains strong across much of the metro area,” said Jack Kreider, executive vice president and regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois. “Eventually, the decline in inventory levels should start to restrain sales activity, but that hasn’t happened yet. Right now, it can be a challenging environment for buyers, but it’s an excellent one for sellers. If you put your home on the market today at a realistic price, you can expect it to find a buyer pretty promptly.”
Kreider also pointed out that the overall results in May suggest the metro Chicago housing market is ready to challenge its pre-Great Recession highs. May’s results approximated those for May 2006 when sales totaled 12,409 homes at a median sales price of $250,000 and average market time of 85 days.
Sales data used by RE/MAX is collected by MRED, the regional multiple listing service. It covers detached and attached homes in the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Detached homes are typically stand-alone single-family dwellings. Attached homes include condominium and cooperative apartments along with townhouses.
In May, both total transactions and the combined median sales price rose in all seven counties in the metro area and in the City of Chicago when compared to May 2016.
Home sales rose most sharply in Kendall, up 14.6%, and Will, up 10.6%. Other gains were 8.6% in McHenry, 7.6% in DuPage, 7.4% in Kane, 5% in Cook, including a 2.4% increase in Chicago, and 3% in Lake.
Sales of distressed homes, comprised of foreclosures and short sales, continued to dwindle as a factor in the metro market, accounting for just 8.4% of all May sales this year. That compares to 13.8% last year and 20.7% in May 2015.
The market for detached homes remained strong, with sales rising 4.4%to 7,661 units in the metro area and the median price climbing 7.2% to $267,900 when compared to results from May 2016.
Average market time in May was 90 days, down from 98 days 12 months earlier.
Sales activity rose in six of the seven counties and was unchanged in Lake. The median sales price was up in all seven counties, led by gains of 11% in Kane, 9.7% in DuPage and 9.4% in Lake.
Sales in Chicago increased just 0.7%, but the median sales price rose 12% in the city to $256,500.
Demand for attached units appeared especially strong in May, with closed sales up 9.4% from the prior May and the average market time dipping to 55 days. The median sales price gained 5% to $210,000.
