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®.- 2,077 properties were sold in the City of Chicago in October 2018. This is a 1.5 percent decrease from October 2017.
- The median sales price in the City of Chicago for October 2018 was $271,000, up 4.0 percent from this time last year.
- The City of Chicago saw listings average 78 days on the market until contract, a 5.4 percent increase from 74 days in October2017.
- Check out the October 2018 FastStats.
STATE OF THE MARKET
- If the last few months are an indication of the temperature of housing markets across the country, a period of relative calm can be expected during the last three months of the year. A trend of market balance is emerging as we approach the end of 2018. Prices are still rising in most areas, and the number of homes for sale is still low, but there is a general shrinking of year-over-year percentage change gaps in sales, inventory and prices.
- Stock markets experienced an October setback, but that does not necessarily translate to a decline in the real estate market. The national unemployment rate has been below 4.0 percent for three straight months and during five of the last six months. This is exceptional news for industries related to real estate. Meanwhile, homebuilder confidence remains positive, homeownership rates have increased in the key under-35 buyer group and prices, though still rising, have widely reduced the march toward record highs.
- “A stabilization is taking place in many areas of the market – demand and prices are fairly steady, inventory continues to decline, albeit less sharply, and buyers are regaining some power,” Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and broker at Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park, said. “These metrics are fairly typical as we enter a historically slower time of the year.”
INVENTORY
- City of Chicago inventory is down 2.6 percent, from 9,808 homes in October 2017, to 9,557 homes in October 2018.
- The month’s supply of inventory has remained the same, at 4.1 in both October 2017 and October 2018 in the City of Chicago.