Nov. 20--Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area recorded the fourth consecutive year-over-year decline in October, but quite a few area residents may be getting a new home for the holidays.
The Illinois Association of Realtors reported that 9,146 homes were sold in October in the nine-county Chicago area, down 3.3 percent from a year earlier. So far, June is the only month this year in which existing-home sales beat their year-earlier comparisons.
The median price of a home sold in the Chicago-area bested its year-ago performance in October, as it has every month this year. But the size of those gains is moderating.
Last month, the median price of a home sold locally was $185,000, up 5.7 percent from October 2013's $175,000.
Within the city of Chicago, the pattern of lower sales volume but higher median prices continued. Home sales dropped 8.6 percent from a year earlier, to 2,082 properties sold last month. The median price of $237,500 was up 8.9 percent from last October's $218,000.
Sales of condominiums in Chicago fell 13.1 percent last month from a year earlier but the median price of those that sold was $293,500, up 12.9 percent.
"Illinois is seeing sales lift as we close out the year, a sign that despite the onset of winter, buyers are still very much interested in making a big ticket purchase," said Jim Kinney, president of the Illinois Association of Realtors.
The market may see a large surge before the holidays. In Chicago, the number of single-family detached homes that went under contract in October was up 11.1 percent while the number of condominiums under contract rose 13.8 percent, according to data from the Chicago Association of Realtors.
Likewise, the Mainstreet Association of Realtors said the number of homes under contract in its region of about 200 communities in DuPage, Lake and suburban Cook counties was up 7.5 percent from October 2013.
Some of that uptick in activity was caused by the greater number of homes that hit the market late in the traditional selling season, after a lack of quality listings for much of the spring and early summer. Compared with a year earlier, the number of homes for sale was up almost 5 percent in DuPage County, 6.8 percent in Kendall County and 7.3 percent in Will County.
Mortgage interest rates certainly are helping and continue to work in homebuyers' favor as they dipped below 4 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.99 percent, down from 4.01 percent last week. A year ago, the average rate on that loan product was 4.22 percent.
Average rates on a 15-year, fixed-rate loan fell even more, to 3.17 percent this week, from 3.20 percent last week and 3.27 percent a year ago.
Nationally, existing-home sales rose for the second consecutive month in October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.26 million homes, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier. The gain put monthly sales at their highest annual pace since September 2013, and represented the first year-over-year gain since October 2013, according to the National Association of Realtors.
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
Twitter @mepodmolik
