SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Statewide home sale prices held steady in 2007 as the correction in the Illinois housing market focused on sales volume. According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS latest report, the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) median home sale price for 2007 was $254,000, up 2.4 percent from $248,000 in 2006. Statewide, the median sale price was $204,000, down 0.5 percent from $205,000 in 2006. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

For the year, a total of 137,133 home sales (single-family and condominiums) were reported in the state in 2007, down 16.9 percent from 165,003 sales in 2006. In the month of December, home sales totaled 7,719, down 27.7 percent from December 2006 with 10,681 home sales. In December, the statewide median sale price was $190,000, down 6.6 percent from $203,400 in the same month a year ago.

“While coastal markets fuel the national headlines with severe home price adjustments, the value of a home in Illinois as a family’s long-term investment remains strong with modest price declines reported in some markets,” said REALTOR Kay Wirth, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS. “The biggest challenge in 2007 was declining sales volume due to several factors including tightening of mortgage qualifications from the subprime market decline, weakening consumer confidence, and buyers who remained on the fence waiting to see how the market performs. Now we’re getting back to the basics of the housing market—find a buyer and you can make a sale as long as the price is right. There are many choices for buyers and mortgage rates are the lowest in several years increasing the affordability for some buyers.”

The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 6.14 percent in December 2007, down 0.11 points from the 6.25 average rate during the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Last year in December it averaged 6.20 percent. For the year, mortgage interest rates averaged 6.37 in 2007 compared to the 6.48 annual average in 2006.

In the Chicago PMSA, total home sales (single-family and condominiums) were 5,033 in December 2007, down 33.2 percent from 7,530 home sales in the same month of 2006. The median home sale price for the Chicago PMSA was $247,800 in December, up 1.1 percent from $245,000 in December 2006. For the year, total home sales in the Chicago PMSA reached 92,656 in 2007, down 20.5 percent from 116,527 sales in 2006.

“Inclement weather in northern Illinois in December certainly did not help sales while LaSalle and Sangamon counties to the south experienced a December pick-up in sales volume,” said Wirth, a broker with Re/Max Unlimited Northwest in Crystal Lake. “Several downstate counties such as Champaign and Peoria were bright spots in the 2007 Illinois housing market.”

“With more economists now anticipating the onset of a mild recession, the addition of 5,200 jobs in Illinois in December is very good news. A total of 51,000 new jobs were created in 2007 and while below the 64,000 jobs added in 2006, Illinois is still outperforming its Midwest neighbors,” said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois. “With many banking and financial institutions still unraveling the effects of the credit crunch, much of the attention is now being directed to proposals being promulgated in Washington for some form of stimulus packages.”

In the latest forecast from the National Association of REALTORS, senior economist Lawrence Yun said: “There are more people with financial capacity now than in 2005, but many are trying to market-time their purchase. As a result, the exact timing and the strength of a home sales recovery is a bit uncertain. A meaningful recovering in existing-home sales could occur as early as this spring, or it may be further delayed toward late 2008.”

Sales and price information is generated from a survey of Multiple Listing Service sales reported by 35 participating Illinois REALTOR® local boards and associations. The Chicago 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 60,000 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.

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Find additional statistical information online at www.illinoisrealtor.org, Market Stats.