RE/MAX Reports That Home Sales In Metro Chicago Real Estate Market Took Upbeat Turn In January

January homes sales numbers for the metropolitan Chicago real estate market are likely to continue the positive trend that the market established in the second half of last year, according to a preliminary analysis of local home sales activity by RE/MAX.

Reviewing early information on January sales from Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC (MRED), the Chicagoland-area multiple listing service, RE/MAX estimates that total January sales of detached and attached homes were approximately 25 to 30 percent higher than those completed in January 2009.

Another positive trend is an increase in activity in higher priced homes. In January, homes priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 9.5 percent of reported transactions, up from 8.6 percent in December and 8.1 percent in the final six months of 2009.

Looking at the data more closely, attached homes priced at $700,000 or more should represent nearly 5.5 percent of January transactions, a 2 percent increase over December and 3 percent more than in the July-December period.

“We have been taking an early look at reported transactions for January, but the final totals may differ slightly,” explained Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. “Still, these early numbers suggest positive movement.”

One of those encouraging numbers is the average price paid for a home, which has been trending downward for some time, according to Merrion.

He expects to see a slight increase in the average price for all attached and detached homes compared to December, but a continued decline in the median price.

“The fact that the average price is up, while the median is down about 4 percent supports the idea that higher priced homes are a bigger part of the mix. At the same time, homes priced under $150,000 continue to dominate the market, accounting for a third of all sales in the last half of 2009,” Merrion said. “Homes in that price category look likely to represent more than 40 percent of total January transactions, which seems to confirm the fact that first-time buyers remain a significant part of the market and are quite active.”

Another continuing trend is the strength of the detached segment of the housing market relative to activity in attached homes. Detached sales represented 65 percent of all transactions during the last half of 2009 and are about 67 percent of January transactions.