by PETER RICCI DECEMBER
18, 2012
Home sales in suburban Chicago
posted fantastic numbers in November, with some communities seeing triple-digit
increases in sales.
Home sales in suburban Chicago increased by 35.6 percent
year-over-year in November as the market continued to show signs of a recovery,
according to the latest stats from the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors
(MORe).
Altogether, MORe’s data covered 200 different communities in
DuPage, Lake and suburban Cook county.
A Strong
November for Real Estate in Suburban Chicago
The detached single-family home market, MORe found, had
particularly impressive numbers in November:
·
The number of detached homes under contract grew 54 percent
year-over-year in November for suburban Chicago, with the median sale price
increasing by 3 percent.
·
As impressive as that 54 percent may be, though, MORe uncovered
some sales in specific communities that seem fantastical: in Carol Stream, for
instance, the single-family detached home market posted a 125 percent
year-over-year increase in sales; in Downers Grove, sales were up 138 percent;
and in La Grange, they rose an incredible 220 percent.
·
Other communities spotlighted by MORe included: Franklin
Park, where sales jumped 120 percent; Hanover Park, where they rose 109
percent; and Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows and Villa Park, where sales rose
a respective 119, 133 and 108 percent.
Incentivizing
Homebuyers in Chicago Real Estate
Michael Parent, the managing broker of Coldwell Banker
Residential Brokerage in St. Charles and 2012-2013 president-elect of MORe,
said his office has “definitely been busier,” and he credits more accurate
pricing on the part of home sellers as the main reason for the increase in
business.
“Sellers have finally priced their properties at where they have
to be,” Parent said. “They’re putting themselves in the right position.”
For too long, Parent continued, sellers clung to the
long-forgotten prices of the boom years, but now that they are adapting to the
current housing market and pricing their homes accordingly, they are enticing
homebuyers and opening themselves to multiple offer situations. One of his office’s
agents, Parent added, conducted 26 showings recently for a properly priced
property over a single weekend.
“Price it right,” Parent said, “and buyers have an incentive.”