The first look at market conditions from the end of 2010 is a bleak one, as sales of condos and single family homes fell 29% and 20% respectively, to the second-lowest levels of the recession. Only the first quarter of 2009 had fewer home sales than the last quarter of 2010. Median selling prices of both property types fell, as well; the median single-family home price is the lowest of the recession.
There were just 7,282 single-family home sales in 4Q 2010, at a median selling price of $159,000, the second-lowest since the recession began. (Single-family home sales from 2007 to 2010 are shown in the graph at left.) This is heavily weighed down by a large number of below-market distressed sales in the city’s economically depressed neighborhoods. In 2007, the median single family home sold for $275,000.
There were 4,369 condominiums and townhomes sold in 4Q 2010, at a median selling price of $242,250, the lowest since the recession began. (These sales are shown in the graph at right.)
While a single quarter does not define a trend, the market conditions from the end of 2010 indicate that a recovery in the housing market has not yet taken hold in Chicago.
I’ll have a detailed breakdown of market conditions in the top 20 Chicago neighborhoods in the next few days; however, it appears the drop in sales is uniform across the city with few exceptions.
Jeff Baird is a real estate valuation consultant based in Chicago. He founded Lakeshore Analytics to bring comprehensive, understandable housing data and analysis to Chicago-area readers. The site features a blog with free market news and charts, summary data on 20 top neighborhoods, and quarterly data subscriptions.