Chicago Market Report: March 2020

As COVID-19’s impact spread across the country in March, the stock market declines started in February accelerated downward before recovering a bit in the last week of the month. With volatility across all the financial markets, lenders began tightening underwriting standards and some buyers found they no longer were approved for a loan. Massive layoffs also shook the economy with 6.6 million initial jobless claims filed in a single week—double the number last week and ten times higher than any other week on record prior to this month.

New Listings in the City of Chicago were down 22.1 percent for detached homes and 21.9 percent for attached properties. Listings Under Contract decreased 3.3 percent for detached homes and 26.9 percent for attached properties.

The Median Sales Price was up 9.8 percent to $258,000 for detached homes and 11.6 percent to $355,000 for attached properties. Months Supply of Inventory decreased 20.3 percent for detached units and 6.3 percent for attached units.

While the effect of COVID-19 is varied throughout the country, we are likely to see impacts to housing activity now and into the coming months. Its continued spread is leading many companies and consumers to change their daily activities. ShowingTime is closely monitoring the situation and releasing daily updates on changes in showing activity. See national and state showing activity trends at https://www.showingtime.com/impact-of-coronavirus/.