Home Sales in Illinois up a Whopping 61.8%!

According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, home sales in Illinois grew by 61.8% in the 2nd Quarter (Q2) of 2009 from the 1st Quarter (Q1). With the combination of low interest rates, affordable home prices, first-time homebuyer tax credits and a pent-up demand, home sales increased from 17,017 homes in Q1 to 27,531 homes in Q2. These sales figure include single-family homes as wella s condominiums.

While year-over-year sales are still down (-16.4% from Q2 2008), these strong quarterly sales gains suggest that we may finally be working through the huge inventory of unsold homes on the market. The median price for homes was also up from Q1 – Q2. The median home sales price increased 9.6% from $146,000 in Q1 to $160,000 in Q2. Median sales prices are down 16.2% from $190,978 since Q2 2008.

Not only are we seeing monthly and quarterly gains in home sales and median home prices, but we are also seeing a decline in the year-over-year losses.

In the Chicago metropolitan area, which includes Cook; Will; DuPage; DeKalb; Grundy; Kane; Kendall; Lake and McHenry counties, total home sales increases 67.7% to 17,622 homes sold in Q2 from 10,507 homes in Q1. The median sales price increased 7.2% to $210,050 from $187,500. Year-over-year home sales and median home prices were down 15.4% and 19.6%, respectively.

This is another piece of great news for the housing market and the overall economy. But, there is still a long way to go. The First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, which is responsible for some of the strength in home sales, is only good for first time homebuyers who close on their purchase on or before November 30, 2009. Many in the industry are calling on Congress to extend the FTHB Tax Credit program beyond December 1, 2009 to make sure these gains continue.

For information on home sales by county, click here.

To take advantage of the improving housing market please call me at 708.473.7688 or e-mail me at BarkerLoans@gmail.com!