April 25, 2005

For Immediate Release

Contact: Mary Schaefer, Ann Londrigan, 217/529-2600   

Editor’s Note:  Starting with the January 2005 release, IAR is using a new system of market statistics reporting based on county totals for single-family home sales (existing and new) and condominiums as well as median and average prices. Monthly, IAR will report figures for the state as a whole and for the Chicagoland PMSA (Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties). Quarterly, IAR will provide a breakdown of sales totals and median prices by county.

March Single-Family Home Sales Off 1.6 Percent from Last Year; Statewide Median Price at $184,500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — March home sales were down slightly but remain at a level near the record set last year. According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS latest report, a total of 9,657 single-family home sales were reported in March 2005, down 1.6 percent from 9,817 sales in March 2004 (a historic high for March Illinois home sales). The median price of a single-family home in March 2005 was $184,500, up 10.5 percent from $167,000 in 2004. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less. Year-to-date, home sales are off a scant 0.4 percent, from 22,696 homes sold in the first three months of 2004 to 22,602 sales for the same period in 2005.

“Illinois REALTORS typically see signs of the spring housing market early in March but the nudge up in mortgage interest rates and higher oil and gas prices factored in to this late start,” said John Veneris, CRB, CRS, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS. “Housing inventories are improving, however, which also will ease prices and help rebalance the market. Buyers should have more choices in the coming months.”

The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 6.03 percent, up .37 points from the 5.66 average rate during the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Last year in March it averaged 5.45 percent. The average home price for March 2005 was $230,000, a 9.0 percent increase from $211,000 in March 2004.

A total of 4,502 condominium sales were reported in March 2005, up 8.3 percent from 4,156 sales in the same month last year. The statewide condominium median price for March was $200,700, up 8.5 percent from $185,000 one year ago.

In the Chicagoland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), single-family home sales totaled 5,874, down 2.1 percent from 5,998 home sales in March 2004. The median single-family home price for the Chicagoland PMSA was $249,000, up 9.0 percent from $228,500 in March 2004.

Condominium sales in the Chicagoland PMSA rose 8.2 percent in March to 4,373 units sold, while the condominium median sales price increased 9.6 percent to $205,000. In March 2004 condo sales for the Chicagoland PMSA totaled 4,040; the median price was $187,000.

“Strong fundamentals—such as growth in employment and household income—should outweigh any modest interest rate hikes as the housing market boom transitions to a more healthy expansion,” said Veneris, broker-owner of Realty Executives Pro/Team of Downers Grove and Realty Executives REALTORS in Naperville. “The National Association of REALTORS expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to average 6.3 percent for the year, which is a favorable level compared to average annual rates recorded prior to 2003. In 2002 for our region it averaged 6.62, 7.01 in 2001 and 8.08 in 2000. For some perspective, in 1990 rates averaged 10.13 and as high as 16.62 percent in 1981.”

Sales and price information is generated from a survey of Multiple Listing Service sales reported by 36 participating Illinois REALTOR local boards and associations. The Chicagoland PMSA, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.

The Illinois Association of REALTORS is a voluntary trade association whose 54,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, the Illinois Association of REALTORS works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation that safeguards and advances the interest of real property ownership.