Home sales, prices rise

By Mike Comerford Daily Herald Business Writer
Posted 8/7/2004

The state's largest real estate agents group on Friday called existing home sales figures for the second quarter "stellar."

On pace for another record year for existing home sales, Chicago area sales rose to 24,139, or 10 percent above the second quarter of last year, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors. Median home prices in the Chicago area rose about 8 percent, to $245,200.

Top areas for existing home sales included Lake County and the West suburbs, posting sales of 2,137 and 4,307, respectively.

Another hot area was Elgin, with 1,168 homes sold, a rise of 15 percent. "Affordable housing is drying up all over the area and there's still affordable housing in Elgin," said Peter Swaufield, an executive officer at the Realtor Association of Fox Valley in Geneva.

Each of the West and Northwest suburban areas served by different Realtor associations showed gains in existing home price and sales in the second quarter, with the lone exception of the Barrington area.

Barrington median home prices remained among the highest in the area, at $389,500, but that price is down 20 percent from a year ago. The median home price fell below Oak Park's $397,800.

Fewer sales of $1 million-and-up homes held down the median price of the 201 homes sold, said Terry Penza, chief executive officer of the North Shore/Barrington Association of Realtors, with offices in Barrington. "So few overall homes were sold, a couple sales made all the difference."

Overall, the robust existing home market in the quarter came as a bit of a surprise, even to some Realtors.

"The record level of buying and selling we experienced in this quarter was unexpected, given that mortgage interest rates in our region broke the 6 percent barrier for the first time since early last year," John Kmiecik, president of the Springfield-based association, said in a prepared release.

Kmiecik said some buying was spurred by the anticipation of future interest rate hikes. A recovery in jobs and the economy also helped, he said.