wright’s home by happy via |
It was reported that Chicago area home sales were up 35% in the second quarter when compared to last year’s figure, and in Chicago itself single family and condo sales are up 33% over the same period. What people are left with is asking the question “why”.
Why? Let’s look at a few other statistics. While home sales are up, home prices continue to fall. They fell another 2.5% and are now under $200,000 as its median price. This might be the only contributing factor, but let’s look on.
Foreclosures are still rising, which means there should be more available homes on the market. Unlike in California, not as many banks are withholding homes from being sold, so maybe buyers are able to get good deals.
Unemployment is stable, but it’s also sitting around 10.4%, which means it should be too high to affect any industry positively. This could account for many of the foreclosures, but then who’s left to buy these homes?
The tax credit is gone, yet some realtors believe that the bounce the housing industry got from the credit is carrying over to now. That doesn’t seem to make much sense, but it’s possible that assistance from organizations like the Illinois Housing Development Authority, with its I-Loan Mortgage Program, is helping more new homeowners buy homes.
Chicago has had 5 bank closures in 2010, four in one week in April and one last week, all related to bad real estate loans and credit card debt. Bank closures don’t usually mean there’s a stable financial economy.
Once again, the question becomes “why” home sales are up. It may not matter all that much as the housing industry tries to get the word out that, indeed, it is a good time to buy a new home in Illinois, especially Chicago.
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Mitch writes on real estate, finance, and many other things. 
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