June 28, 2021 – With the current Illinois housing market, it is all about supply and demand. Low inventories have led to high selling prices and bidding wars.
“Based on everything we see at the state level and national that the momentum will continue,” said Ed Neaves, the 2020 president of Illinois Realtors. “It has not peaked. Part of the reason is the low inventory and all of the other factors that are contributing to that are not changing.”
According to Illinois Realtors, statewide home sales in May totaled 17,675, an increase of 51.8% from May 2020.
The statewide median price in May was $262,000, up 21.8% from May 2020. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
Geoffrey Hewings, emeritus director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois, says newly built homes may eventually help with the inventory situation.
“It is going to take a while before we see a significant contribution from new construction to add to the inventory and therefore reduce some of the pressure,” Hewings said.
There are some Illinois housing markets that could turn ugly. With the pandemic housing boom and low mortgage rates, signs of weakness can jump out, including a slowdown in buying if prices continue to rise in some places. However, for most of Illinois, it remains a seller’s market.
