There are some really hot neighborhoods in Chicago right now.  One that really stands out is Bridgeport.  The real estate market in Bridgeport scored a rare two-fer in the first half of 2017: It’s the only city neighborhood that landed on two hot lists at the same time.

In Bridgeport, the markets for single-family and attached homes (condos and townhouses), are both doing well. Both types of residences are selling in bigger numbers, at higher prices and faster compared to last year. Among the city’s 77 neighborhoods, Bridgeport is the only one where both types of housing landed at the top of Crain’s midyear hot lists.
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April slowed down in the Chicago real estate market. We took a look at the numbers, and here’s what we found:

Home sales dropped from a year earlier, and median prices grew at a smaller pace than in some recent months, according to data from the Illinois Association of Realtors. In the city, the April sales total was 4.4 percent below April 2016. In the nine-county metropolitan area, down 2.3 percent from a year earlier.
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Home sales kept pumping at 2017’s healthy pace last month, according to data released by the Illinois Association of Realtors.

In the nine-county metropolitan area, 9,661 homes sold in March, up 13.1 percent from a year earlier. In Chicago, 2,478 homes sold last month, an increase of 15.3 percent. Both increases were larger than any month’s year-over-year bump since November.
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In much of the country, both new and existing home sales increased in January. This continues a trend first noticed in an extremely busy December, and also signals we are seeing more than just a post-election and World Series bump. Now is the right time to buy with mortgage rates going up.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate and signaled the likelihood of additional rate hikes later this year, home buyers will see mortgage interest rates go up. As of March 2017, according to Bankrate, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has increased by 81 basis point since before the election, in which time the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates once. While the Fed does not have the ability to directly set mortgage rates, it does create the monetary policies that indirectly affect these rates. [Read more…]

In much of the country, both new and existing home sales increased in January. This continues a trend first noticed in an extremely busy December, and also signals we are seeing more than just a post-election and World Series bump.

Indeed, Chicago came out of the gates blazing in January, better than any other January in about a decade. Buyers are aware of rising interest rates and are prepared to rush to showings, make decisions and write offers. This has caused prices to rise in year-over-year comparisons, and these higher prices and extremely low inventory in many neighborhoods have really put pressure on buyers.
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