Illinois Sees Gains in Prices, Sales in January

The steady housing improvement seen in Illinois throughout 2012 is poised to continue in 2013, if January's numbers are anything to go on.

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According to the ""Illinois Association of Realtors"":http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/, statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) totaled 8,502 in January, up 31.1 percent from 6,484 in January 2012.

Meanwhile, the statewide median price in January was $125,000, up 1.2 percent year-over-year.

More than half (59 out of 102) counties in the state showed year-over-year sales increases in January, while 50 showed yearly median price increases, including: Sangamon (up 10.2 percent to $135,000); Will (5.5 percent to $152,990); Cook (3.1 percent to $135,000); and Winnebago (0.1 percent to $75,000).

In the nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), home sales totaled 6,244--up 36.8 percent year-over-year--while the median price was $141,000, up 0.7 percent, the association reported.

""Foreclosures continue to dampen price gains and reduce inventory levels as prospective sellers are wary of the effect these properties have on their own prospects,"" said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. ""However, the sales volumes are impressive and with foreclosure sales continuing to outpace new additions, there is some expectation that over the next year, prices might start to move upward in some sustained fashion.""

The city of Chicago, meanwhile, saw a 32.2 percent yearly increase in home sales, coming in at 1,485 sales. The condo market also showed a sales increase, rising 29.7 percent to 829 units sold in January. The median price of a home in Chicago in January was $159,000, up 7.4 percent year-over-year.

""The first month of 2013 continues to show positive signs of a market recovery in the city of Chicago,"" said Realtor Zeke Morris, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors. ""The median price of a condo rose to $202,500, up 8.7 percent from January of last year. The condo market's slow revival shows a steady but measured improvement that we will continue to watch as an indicator for the greater health of the city's housing marketplace in 2013.""