Scorching Summer Real Estate: 3 Things You Need to Know
Home Prices Scorch Inflation
Inflation is slowing but home prices have been vigorous, running higher than inflation.
In Chicago proper, home prices in June were up 7%, according to data from the S&P
CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. That’s more than twice the rate of inflation (3%) during
the month.
Nationwide, home prices were up 5.4%, a narrower spread above inflation than Chicago
and other cities with high-rising prices. Of the 20 cities the index tracks, four had bigger
price increases than Chicago in June: New York (9%), San Diego (8.7%), Las Vegas
(8.5%) and Los Angeles (8.2%). Detroit registered the same increase as Chicago.
Cities where prices grew by less than inflation in June were Dallas (2.3%), Minneapolis
(2%) Denver (1.9%) and Portland (0.8%).
Home Price Growth Steady
Despite buyers worries about affordability, steady price growth characterized the
Chicago-area housing market in July, according the Illinois Realtors Association.
In the city, the median price of homes sold in July was $360,000, up 5.9% from the
same time last year; in the nine-county metro area, the median sale price was
$368,000, an 8.3% increase from July 2023.
This outpaces sales nationwide, with home prices rising 4.2% in July.
Home Sales Finally Rise From Record Lows
The volume of home sales finally came out of the gutter, promising some hope for
everyone involved in real estate.
In much of 2023 and part of 2024, monthly home sales figures were hitting new lows for
their individual months, lower than any similar month in a decade or more.
Sales turned up well in July, according to Illinois Realtors. In Chicago, 2,161 homes
sold, an increase of 5.3% from a year earlier; in the nine-county region, 8,943 homes
sold, up 5.7% from July 2023.
Both figures were still well below the pre-COVID norm for the month, to say nothing of
sales volumes during the halcyon boom years of mid-2020 to mid-2022.
July sales in the city were about 80% of the July figures for 2018 and 2019. In the larger
metro area, home sales were about 77% of the comparable month in 2018 and 2019.