Chicagoland single-family home prices increase for 12th straight month
According to recent data from Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS, the sale of detached homes in the Chicago suburbs was down just 35 houses in May 2024, compared to May of last year. There were 2,867 single-family homes that sold last year, and this year, there were 2,832.
"Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to see as much of a pick up in the market as predicted. Even though interest rates have naturally floated down again (just under 7%), the market still lacks inventory and sellers are still unwilling to let go of their 3 to 4% interest rates," said Mainstreet Realtor member, Matthew Bowser, broker associate, Team JC | Compass.
In DuPage County, inventory was up 30% year over year, but there was still only 1.3 months supply in May 2024. Kane County also had 1.3 months supply, up 18.2% from May of last year. Lake County was stagnant at 1.5 months. Cook County was the only county where inventory went down from last year by 4.5% to 2.1 months of inventory. In a healthy housing market, Realtors say there is five to six months inventory.
"For those sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to improve, I think we have a long way to go," said Tim Ryan, president of Mainstreet Realtors. "If borrowing becomes more affordable, home buying will become more expensive because we will have even more buyers with the same amount of limited inventory."
Detached homes only sat on the market an average of 34 days last month, an almost 21% decrease from last May, when the average time on market was 43 days.
Realtors say that with the summer market upon us, multiple offers can be expected for appropriately priced homes, and these homes will likely end up moving over asking prices.
"Affordability is going to remain a challenge for the foreseeable future," said John Gormley, CEO of Mainstreet Realtors. "If you're waiting to enter the market, now is the time to work with an experienced Realtor and to go for it."
Prices climbed for the 12th straight month in a row in May 2024. Last year, the median sale price for a single-family home was $365,000. Last month, those median prices sailed up 9.6% to $400,000.
The sale of attached homes was also down 2.4% last month. There were 1,332 homes that sold in May 2024, compared to 1,365 attached homes last year. Time on market was down from 26 to 24 days and prices were up 11.3% from $238,000 in May 2023 to $265,000 last month.
Homes under contract for detached and attached homes were also down year over year. For detached homes, 3,138 homes went under contract last month, a 3.0% decrease from May 2023, when 3,234 homes went under contract. For attached homes, there was a 1.6% dip. There were 1,438 homes that went under contract in May 2024, compared to 1,462 in May of last year.
Despite the fact there were less homes under contract in May 2024 than May 2023, there were still suburbs where these numbers increased: Bartlett (40.0% increase in detached homes under contract); Batavia (28.0%); Carol Stream (40.9%); Country Club Hills (55.0%); Crete (35.3%); Downers Grove (29.8%); Elk Grove Village (21.7%); Gurnee (21.7%); Hoffman Estates (25.7%); LaGrange (70.6%); Lemont (23.8%); Lisle (23.5%); Maywood (30.0%); Niles (61.9%); Oswego (27.0%); Park City - Waukegan (28.6%); Park Forest (58.3%); and Zion (19.1%).