Chicago Market Report: January 2020

For 2020, The National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun sees good news for home prices. “National median home price growth is in no danger of falling due to inventory shortages and will rise by 4%,” the long-term NAR economist predicts. He is also expecting the new-home construction market sales to increase 10%. Yun and others would like to see home builders bring more affordable units to market to help ease shortages and slow price gains in that segment.

New Listings in the City of Chicago were up 1.8 percent for detached homes and 6.1 percent for attached properties. Listings Under Contract increased 18.1 percent for detached homes and 9.1 percent for attached properties.

The Median Sales Price was up 3.2 percent to $227,000 for detached homes and 1.5 percent to $312,500 for attached properties. Months Supply of Inventory decreased 13.1 percent for detached units but increased 0.7 percent for attached units.

We start off the year with continued low interest rates, low unemployment, and rising rents nationally. These factors should encourage healthy buyer demand and sets us up for a strong start to the 2020 housing market and a lot of optimism for the coming spring market.