April 2021 Market Snapshot

MARKET SNAPSHOT — CITY OF CHICAGO

*The City of Chicago Market Snapshot represents the residential real estate activity within the 77 officially defined Chicago community areas as provided by the Chicago Association of REALTORS®.
  • 3,323 properties were sold in the City of Chicago in April 2021. This is a 61.5% increase from April 2020.
  • The median sales price in the City of Chicago for April 2021 was $372,500, up 10.2% from this time last year.
  • The City of Chicago saw listings average 74 days on the market until contract, an 8.6% decrease from April 2020.
  • Check out the April 2021 FastStats.

STATE OF THE MARKET

  • April was another strong month for home sales. The busy spring market continues to see many multiple offer situations driving sales prices above asking price. With such strong activity, by the time a property sale closes, the market may have already moved higher than that sold price suggests. Such markets can create stress and frustration for prospective homebuyers, who are frequently having to submit offers on multiple properties before they are able to secure a purchase.
  • In the spirit of the great Wayne Gretzky, buyers, sellers, and their agents are all trying their best to skate to where the puck, or rather, the housing market, is going, not where it has been. While housing affordability remains an area to watch as prices continue to rise, strong buyer demand and limited housing supply show no signs of easing soon, pointing to a continuation of this market trend through spring and into summer.
  • “The market in April was hot! The steep year over year increase in closed sales and median price shows the hesitancy of buyers and sellers at the beginning of the pandemic last April compared to the comfort they are feeling in the market now,” Nykea Pippion McGriff, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and vice president of brokerage services at Coldwell Banker Realty, said. “Over the last few months, it seems like buyers have re-evaluated their desires, and we’ve seen a considerable uptick in the condo market, which is also a signal of buyer confidence and comfort moving into summer.”

INVENTORY

  • The City of Chicago’s inventory is down 4.5%, from 8,209 homes in April 2020 to 7,841 homes in April 2021.
  • The month’s supply of inventory decreased 26.8%, from 4.1 in April 2020 to 3.0 in April 2021.