A new report found the Chicago housing market enjoyed a solid first half of 2017. According to Re/Max, home sales in the seven-county metro area were up 4.0 percent as compared to the first half of 2016, while the median home price gained 6.6 percent.
Despite a limited inventory, sales increased to 58,275 units for the first half of the year. Meanwhile, the median price jumped to $239,900.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the way the market has performed during the first half of the year despite a relative scarcity of listings,” said Jack Krieder, executive director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois. He added homes sold in an average of just 87 days, which was the lowest number for any first half since 2005 when it was 69 days.
Based largely on this lack of inventory, Krieder expects it to remain a sellers’ market.
“I don’t expect that to change soon,” he said. “It sounds as if the Fed will raise interest rates slowly, which should help maintain the strong demand for homes that we’ve seen over the last several years.”
Home sales activity and median price increased in all seven metro counties.
Leading the uptick in home sales the first half of the year were attached homes. Sales activity increased with these residences by 5.9 percent to 21,709 units. Detached home sales increased by 3.0 percent to 36,566 units.
All in all, this report seems to signal Chicago remains a relatively healthy housing market. While a lack of inventory continues to tilt it towards the seller, like in virtually all major U.S. cities these days, that doesn’t figure to continue indefinitely. Eventually more homeowners will have accrued the equity to sell, and new construction is in the pipeline.