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®.
- 3,403 properties were sold in the City of Chicago in May 2021. This is a 100.1% increase from May 2020.
- The median sales price in the City of Chicago for May 2021 was $350,000, up 11.8% from this time last year.
- The City of Chicago saw listings average 72 days on the market until contract, an 13.3% decrease from May 2020.
- Check out the May 2021 FastStats.
STATE OF THE MARKET
- As the weather warms and pandemic restrictions ease across much of the country, the U.S. housing market shows little sign of cooling. Robust buyer demand, fueled by low mortgage rates, continues to outpace supply, which remains near historic lows. Nationwide, inventory remains much lower than it was at this time last year, and sales prices are surging as a result.
- With such limited supply of existing homes to purchase, all eyes are on home builders to provide a much-needed boost of inventory to the market to help meet buyer demand. However, increasing material and labor costs, along with supply chain challenges, have contributed to significantly higher construction costs, with builders passing these costs on to homebuyers. And while the warmer temperatures, rising sales prices, and the reopening of the economy may draw more sellers to the market, historically low levels of homes for sale are likely to continue for some time.
- “The data from May shows the stark contrast of where we were last year, when the COVID-19 stay-at-home order truly started to impact the Chicago real estate market, compared to this year as the city slowly opened up, and the changes are astounding, with a 97.4% increase in closed sales,” Nykea Pippion McGriff, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and vice president of brokerage services at Coldwell Banker Realty, said. “We’re currently seeing all types of properties, from single-family to condos, moving swiftly off the market. Buyers are prepared to move quickly on their dream homes, and those who are considering making a change should call their REALTOR® to begin the selling process.”
INVENTORY
- The City of Chicago’s inventory is down 4.2%, from 8,317 homes in May 2020 to 7,965 homes in May 2021.
- The month’s supply of inventory decreased 31.0%, from 4.2 in May 2020 to 2.9 in May 2021.