Local home sales up for 12 straight months

From Crain’s Chicago Business

(Crain’s) — Chicago-area home sales have now increased every month for a full year, rising again in June compared with the same month in 2009.

In the nine-county Chicago region, sales of single-family homes and condominiums rose more than 27% to 9,085, compared to 7,140 homes sold in June 2009, according to a news release Thursday from the Illinois Assn. of Realtors.

In the city of Chicago, sales similarly jumped 27.5% to 2,526, compared to 1,981 homes sold in June 2009, the 10th consecutive month of higher year-over-year sales for the city.

A federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for other buyers who signed contracts by April 30 helped the market, according to association President Mike Onorato. The deadline to close to get the credit recently was extended to Sept. 30.

“As the stimulus winds down, job growth and improved consumer and business confidence will be required to keep on a path toward recovery,” Mr. Onorato, broker-owner of Onorato Real Estate in Coal City, said in the release.

The median price in the Chicago area — at which half the homes sell for more and half for less — dipped 1.2% in June to $207,500, compared to $210,000 in June 2009.

In Chicago, the median price dropped 3.2% to $234,250, compared to $242,050 in June 2009, according to the Realtors.

Statewide home sales increased for the 10th consecutive month, rising 18.3% to 13,072, compared to 11,048 in June 2009. The state’s median price rose 2.5% to $170,000, compared to $165,825 in June 2009.

The association’s sales figures include new and existing homes. The nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will.

Original article here: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=38960