Chicago-area home buyers who weren’t willing to bet that a federal tax credit was going to be extended closed on more than 6,826 existing home purchases last month, making November the fifth consecutive month of improved year-over-year home sales.
It’s questionable, though, whether the housing market will see a sixth consecutive month of improvement. Typically, home sales slack off as the holidays approach and buyers don’t come back into the market until after the Super Bowl in late January.
The extension of the $8,000 credit for first-time buyers, and expanding it to include up to $6,500 for repeat buyers, is likely to bring more consumers into the market but they may delay their entry since the tax credit doesn’t expire until June 30.
Nationally, existing home sales rose 44.1 percent last month from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million homes, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. It was the best month for sales since February 2007.
Paul Dales, US. economist for Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto, predicts that sales will fall sharply in December and then rise for the first half of 2010. "Low mortgage rates and improved valuations will mean that the recovery continues beyond the end of the tax credit, too," Dales wrote in a research note. "That said, high unemployment and rising foreclosures will mean that the housing recovery will be slow and steady, rather than speedy and spectacular."
In Cook County, November sales rose 66.7 percent from a year ago, and the median price of $190,000 was off 9.3 percent from a year ago, the Illinois Association of Realtors said. Those results were dwarfed by the sales gains in some of the collar counties, where buyers found big bargains. In Kendall County, for instance, 150 homes were sold last month, compared to 71in November 2008 and the median home price was down 19 percent, to $168,499.
The only county to record an improved financial picture for the housing market was Lake County, where the median home price of $198,000 was a 7 percent improvement from a year ago. Sales in Lake County rose 60.7 percent last month.
Within the city of Chicago, sales rose 69.9 percent to 1,859 sales compared to 1,094 homes sold in November 2008. The median price of $215,000 was down only 3.4 percent from November 2008’s median price.
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