What’s really the fastest-selling neighborhood in Chicago?

Chicago Real Estate Daily has a report that spotlights the five community areas that had the shortest average market times for single-family homes and for condominiums during the first four months of this year.

North Park had the shortest average market time, 46 days, for single-families and that honor went to West Town, at 65 days, for condominiums and townhomes.

If you think you can learn anything useful from those numbers, think again. There are simply too many factors that can render them meaningless, including the time of year covered in the report. It’s not uncommon for sellers to take their property off the market during the winter season and re-list in the spring, re-starting the “days on market” clock.

You might expect the re-listing factor to be uniform across neighborhoods, lending some value to the comparative rankings. Practices do vary from one area to another in Chicago, and it’s simply impossible to isolate their impact on the averages.

The mix of new construction and resale properties in a neighborhood can also have an impact, and West Town’s numbers are likely to be biased by the number of condos and townhomes sold prior to construction and only listed on the MLS when the closing date is imminent.

The report notes that average market times have decreased sharply year-over-year in some areas. From what I’ve been hearing the practice of withholding properties from the MLS as “pocket listings” has been growing rapidly, and that practice doubtless accounts for some of the decrease in market times.

What’s the fastest-selling neighborhood in Chicago? I haven’t a clue. If you do, chime in with the answer.

(Visited 169 times, 1 visits today)