Local home sales up in December, flat for 2009
(Crain's) — Chicago-area home sales rose 33% in December compared with the same month last year and were essentially flat for the full year, according to the Illinois Assn. of Realtors.
| CHICAGO-AREA SALES | |||
| Below is a monthly year-over-year comparison of home sales (single-family and condo) in the nine-county Chicago area. | |||
| Month | 2009 | 2008 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2,965 | 3,927 | -24.5% |
| February | 3,082 | 4,326 | -28.8% |
| March | 4,260 | 5,759 | -26.0% |
| April | 4,747 | 6,094 | -22.1% |
| May | 5,634 | 6,927 | -18.7% |
| June | 7,140 | 7,806 | -8.5% |
| July | 7,427 | 7,408 | 0.3% |
| August | 7,009 | 6,917 | 1.3% |
| September | 6,862 | 6,477 | 5.9% |
| October | 7,286 | 5,467 | 33.3% |
| November | 6,826 | 3,978 | 71.6% |
| December | 5,752 | 4,320 | 33.1% |
| Full year | 69,290 | 69,406 | -0.2% |
| Source: Illinois Assn. of Realtors | |||
For all of 2009, 69,290 homes sold in the Chicago area, down a scant 0.2% from 2008, the Realtors said in a release Monday.
That's a major improvement from 2008, when local sales fell almost 26% compared with 2007.
In December 2009, home sales rose 33.1% locally, to 5,752 compared with 4,320 in December 2008, the sixth consecutive month that area sales increased over the year-ago month.
"In 2009, we saw demand primarily for lower-priced homes from first-time buyers in addition to short sales and sales of foreclosed homes," Mike Onorato, president of the association and broker-owner of Onorato Real Estate in Coal City, said in the release. "There is opportunity now for the move-up buyer to take advantage of the tax credit that ends April 30 and lower mortgage interest rates, which many analysts expect to rise by mid-year."
Last year, sales in the city of Chicago fell more sharply than in the entire Chicago area. In the city, 2009 sales fell 7.4%, to 19,401 compared with 20,946 in 2008.
In December alone, city sales rose 39.8%, to 1,768 compared with 1,265 in December 2008.
The median price plunged last year in both the Chicago area and the city. The Chicago-area median — the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less — dropped 18.3%, to $196,000, compared with 2008.
In the city, the median fell 22.4% in 2009, to $225,000 compared with $290,000 in 2008.
Statewide, home sales fell 1.5% last year to 107,503. The statewide median price fell 14.6% in 2009, to $157,000.
Statewide sales rose 20.1% in December, to 8,197.
The Illinois Assn. of Realtors' sales figures include new and existing homes. The nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.
