Buyers in this market want more 7-figure homes

Demand for $1 million homes has seen solid growth in the Chicago metro in the past year

Buyers in this market want more 7-figure homes
Demand for $1 million homes has seen solid growth in the Chicago metro in the past year.

RE/MAX reports that sales in the 7-county metro Chicago area gained 9.7% to 2,658 homes in 2017 while inventory dropped more than 15%, and the median price eased 1.9% to $1.3 million.

“Much of the decline in the median price can be attributed to a shift in market activity in Chicago,” said Jeff LaGrange, Vice President, RE/MAX Northern Illinois Region.

The number of luxury home sales in the $1 million-to-$2 million range increased by 21%, but homes that sold for at least $3 million decreased by 6.3% in 2017.

“It is also encouraging to see the supply of $1-million-plus homes decline over the course of 2017,” LaGrange said. “At the end of 2016, we had slightly more than a year’s supply of luxury listings on the market. By the end of 2017, that had dropped to about 9.5 months of supply, which is still substantial but a welcome reduction and a trend we hope continues in 2018.”

City sales gain 18%
There was a rise of 18% in the number of luxury homes sold in the city of Chicago in 2017.

There were 1,332 sales with the median price down 1.7% to just under $1.35 million.

The attached sector outperformed though with a 32.9% rise to 647 units although with a 26.4% rise in inventory in this sector, there was a 2.4% decline in the median price ($1.318m).

Sales of single-family homes totaled 685 units in the city, 6.7% more than in 2016, and their median price was $1.36 million, a 1.9% decline. Year-end inventory was down 22.6% to 326 units.