Home sale prices inch up in Illinois

Tribune staff, wire reports
November 21, 2007

Illinois home prices eked out a 0.7 percent increase in the third quarter despite a raft of negative trends, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Statewide, the trade group said, the median home sale price was $209,000, a slight gain from the $207,500 a year ago. The median price, considered a better yardstick than a standard average, represents the price at which half the homes that sold were at a higher price, and half were at a lower price. The average sale price rose 3.1 percent in the latest quarter, to $270,632. The number of homes sold in Illinois, including single-family homes and condominiums, dropped 16.3 percent, to 39,519. In the Chicago area, the median home sale price rose 4.2 percent, to $262,500.