Ill. home sales mark first positive year-over-year increase
Sales of homes in Illinois marked the first positive year-over-year increase in more than three years in the third quarter, but the median price in Chicago dropped 20.7 percent, and sales in the city fell 4.8 percent.
That’s according to the latest report from the Illinois Association of Realtors.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times file)
Statewide sales of single-family homes and condominiums edged up 0.3 percent to 32,460, while median prices declined 12.9 percent to $165,000.
In Chicago, sales fell to 5,821 from 6,117, and the median price sank to $230,000 from $290,000.
In the metropolitan Chicago area, sales climbed 2.4 percent to 21,298, but prices were down 16.3 percent at $205,000.
The report is evidence of “the importance of the extension and expansion of the federal home buyer tax credit,” Mike Onorato president of the association, said in a statement.
President Barack Obama last week signed legislation that extended the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, which had been slated to end this month. The legislation also expanded the incentives to provide up to $6,500 in tax credits for buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years.
“The Chicago housing market continues to see buyers investing in distressed properties, which continue to be absorbed, Genie Birch, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
She cited a 22.2 percent increase in the number of single-family homes sold in the third quarter over a year earlier, noting “There are great deals on the market for buyers across the board, however the expanded and extended homebuyer tax credit will be critical to helping move buyers off the fence and into homes in the city of Chicago.