July 30, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums continued to see steady improvement in Illinois during June and remained well above year-ago levels according to the latest data from the Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR).
An estimated total of 13,111 existing homes and condos were sold in the Land of Lincoln in June. Home sales were 9.4 percent higher than the 11,984 homes sold in May and were 18.0 percent higher than the 11,108 homes sold in June 2011.
The median sales price for an existing home in Illinois increased 7.4 percent to $155,000 from $145,000 in May and was up 3.3 percent from June of last year, the second consecutive month home prices have increased year-over-year price after 23 months of declines.
Loretta Alonzo, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, stated, “The combination of low prices and even lower interest rates in June far outweighed any lingering concerns on the part of prospective homebuyers about the broader economy. This year’s spring selling season clearly marked a promising turn in the housing market in Illinois.”
Fifty-seven of the 101 counties that reported data posted higher home sales than a year ago, ten more than the previous month, while 53 of the counties posted an increase in their annual median sales price, up from 51 last month.
In the nine-county Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), sales of existing homes and condos totaled 9,156 in June, up 10.6 percent from 8,276 homes sold in May and up 22.4 percent from 7,481 homes sold in June of 2011.
The median sales price for a home in the Chicago MSA was $183,000 in June, up 7.6 percent from a median price of $170,000 in May and up 1.7 percent compared to June of last year when the median sales price was $180,000. It was the second consecutive month that home prices in the Chicago MSA have increased year-over-year after declining for the previous 49 months.
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, Illinois
