Home resales here in the Chicago Metro Area, and across the State of Illinois, continued their tumble in August.
Local figures come on the heels of National Association of Realtors data indicating resales fell 2.2% last month, to an annualized rate of 4.91 Million Sales. The national median price of a home or condo fell to $203,100 in August, down 9.5% from its August, 2007 level. This was a record drop, year over year.
The Chicago Metropolitan Area includes Cook County, in which the City of Chicago is located, plus the surrounding counties of Lake, DuPage, Will, Kane, McHenry, Grundy, and Kendall. Local community types range from highly urban, in Chicago and several of the larger suburbs, to quite rural.
In aggregate, home sales here, including both single-family detached homes and attached condominiums, fell 30.1% in August versus last year. In August, 2008, 6,804 homes sold, compared to over 8,850 one year earlier. The median sale price for Chicago Metro Area Homes - $251,250, down from $266,500 in August, 2007. The drop in median price - 5.7%.
In the City of Chicago, the median price of a home fell 3.0%, to $295,750.
According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, 10,601 homes were sold across the state last month, compared to 14,562 during August, 2007. The August sales figures were down 4.6% from July, 2008 numbers.
The median home sale price across IL fell 7.1% in August, to $195,000, versus $210,000 a year ago.The median represents the price level at which 50% of home sales were above that number, 50% below.
According to Geoffrey Hewings, Director of the University of Illinois Regional Economics Applications Library, more moderate declines in median home prices can be expected during September through November of this year. He predicts a 3 to 5 percent median price decline in the Chicago Metro Area, and a 5 to 7 percent decline across the State of Illinois.
"Prospects for a rapid recovery of the housing market were significantly dampened by the turmoil in the financial markets," said Hewings.
"While the interventions by the federal government in the financial sector will help stem a more precipitous slide in the housing market, the longer-term of this market will now be increasingly dependent on the economy's (eventual) recovery."
See our post today @ BlogChicagoHomes.com for more info, as well as links to James P. Miller's story on the local and statewide housing market stats for August. We have also linked to Jeff Bater's article in today's Wall Street Journal for the national numbers.
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