April was a big month for the housing market in Chicago, as the number of home sold was up 7.5 percent from a year earlier and the median price of a home in Chicago jumped 11% to $210,000.
In April, there were 9,037 units sold in the Chicago area. All seven-counties that make up the region registered gains in total sales, led by Kendall County (up 15 percent) and Will County (14 percent).
Officials for RE/MAX, which conducted the study, noted perhaps the most heartening finding was that housing inventory is finally starting to increase in Chicago. Higher prices are luring more folks to put their home’s on the market, said Jim Merrion, regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois.
“Just as important as the larger number of sales and higher median sales price is that the inventory of homes listed for sale on our regional MLS was 10 percent higher this April than last,” Merrion said in a press release. “Inventory has been so tight in some areas that it has created a frustrating lack of choices for buyers. What we’re seeing now is that rising home values are encouraging a growing number of homeowners to sell.”
It’s certainly been a good start to the year for the Chicago housing market and there’s reason to be optimistic moving forward. Officials for RE/MAX noted that though April was another strong month, it was a slight cool-down from March when transactions were up 13% and the median price of a home in Chicago jumped 16%.
And that’s a good thing, according to Merrion.
“The gains we see for April represent a more sustainable pace of housing market improvement, which benefits both buyers and sellers,” he said.
One other finding that’s worth noting is the contrast between the attached and detached home market in Chicago. Inventory of attached homes remained tight with just a 3.3 month supply, while for detached homes there was a 4.8 month supply. As a result, sales of detached homes jumped 12 percent and sales of attached home rose a meager 1 percent.