July 2019 Market Snapshot

July 2019 Market Snapshot

Provided by the Chicago Association of Realtors – issued August 16, 2019

MARKET SNAPSHOT – CITY OF CHICAGO

*The City of Chicago Market Snapshot represents the residential real estate activity within the 77 officially defined Chicago community areas as provided by the Chicago Association of REALTORS®.

• 2,675 properties were sold in the City of Chicago in July 2019. This is a 4.5 percent decrease from July 2018.

• The median sales price in the City of Chicago for July 2019 was $306,700, up 0.6 percent from this time last year.

• The City of Chicago saw listings an average 65 days on the market until contract, a 1.6 percent increase from 64 days in July 2018.

STATE OF THE MARKET

• In July, the U.S. economic expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in the nation’s history, marking 121 straight months of gross domestic product growth and surpassing the 120-month expansion from 1991 to 2001. The average rate of growth during this expansion has been a milder 2.3 percent per year compared to 3.6 percent during the 1990s. Although the economy should continue to perform well for the rest of 2019, most economists see a mild recession on the horizon.

• During the record-setting 121-month economic expansion, the unemployment rate has dropped from 10.0 percent in 2009 to 3.7 percent, yet many consumers continue to struggle financially. Low mortgage interest rates have helped offset low housing affordability, but high home prices are outpacing median household income growth. In a move to stoke continued economic prosperity, the Federal Reserve reduced the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to about 2.25 percent, marking the first reduction in more than a decade.

• “The same trends we’ve been seeing in the market lately continue to persist,” Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and broker at Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park, said. “The market is in a stabilizing period. Days on the market remain low and prices are steady, so inventory is moving and demand is there. We expect this to continue, particularly on the heels of the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.”

INVENTORY

• The City of Chicago’s inventory is down 0.2 percent, from 9,815 homes in July 2018 to 9,800 homes in July 2019.

• The month’s supply of inventory is up 4.8 percent, from 4.2 in July 2018 to 4.4 in July 2019.