The National Association of Realtors released a report this week that revealed a surprising jump in existing home sales in April. According to the data, resales of residential real estate went up 7.6% nationally after economists predicted only a 4.6% improvement last month.
The federal home buyer tax credit (which expired at the end of April) unquestionably contributed to the uptick in activity as people scrambled to get contracts signed before the April 30th deadline. Because those buyers have until June 30th to close, industry analysts expect to see a residual effect on the market for the next couple months as transactions are finalized.
In the Chicago Real Estate maket, there was good news from the Illinois Association of Realtors. The local realtor group reported a rise in both home and condo sales, plus a year-over-year increase in median price. Median home prices within the city went up 3.2% in April from the previous year to $225,000. Single-family properties showed the most significant price turnaround—climbing 15% higher than April 2009. On another positive note… the number of residential property sales in the city of Chicago soared 41.1 percent, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
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