Good news! Sales are up! Our office’s under contract sales in March were up 64% over March of last year. Dollar volume (sum of sale prices) was up 53%. And the number of new listings taken was up 30%.
In the first quarter of 2010, the number of closed sales in MRED (the MLS serving greater Chicagoland) was up 36% over 2009. In the six zip codes making up “central Lake County”, the number of closed sales was up 38% over the first quarter of 2009.
Not so good news: While sales activity is up, it’s up from some pretty dismal numbers a year ago, and the number of sales is still far short of the pace of four or five years ago. Sales prices seem to be bottoming out, but median sale prices in the first quarter of 2010 are down from last year. Here are a few examples of median* sale prices for the first quarter of 2010 vs. 2009:
Town (zip) 2009 2010 % change
Lake Forest (60045) $860,000 $649,000 -25%
Libertyville (60048 $412,000 $366,000 -11%
Gurnee (60031) $265,000 $215,000 -19%
Grayslake (60030) $162,000 $168,000 +4%
Mundelein (60060) $188,000 $186,000 -1%
Lake Bluff (60044) $594,000 $470,000 -21%
Round lake area (60073) $135,000 $100,000 -26%
*Median sale price is the price with the same number of sales below and above it. In most cases, the average sale price is higher. If you’d like a comparison of all the towns we serve, including a comparison of average and median sale price, number of sales, sale to list price rations, please let us know. We’re “into the numbers”.
Listing Inventory: The number of homes listed for sale typically increases as winter turns to spring, and 2010 is no exception. However, the inventory (number of homes for sale) in March, 2010 is down roughly 4% from March of 2009. This is good news and another indication that homes are selling and that we may be on the road to recovery in housing.
List price/sale price ratios: In many markets, homes are selling a little closer to list price than they were last year. For example, in Libertyville (60048), homes sold in the first quarter at 94% of the last listed price and 90% of original list price, both numbers higher than those of 2009. One of the reasons for this is that motivated sellers are pricing more realistically right from the start.
Impact of Homebuyer Tax Credits? We have seen people scrambling to get homes under contract before the April 30 deadline, and we expect to see a lot of closings the week before the June 30 deadline. Without doubt, the tax credit has had a positive impact on home sales. We’ll let you know in a few months (after the dust settles) how much of an impact it’s had.
Was your home built before 1978? Beginning now (April, 2010) federal law requires that contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified in the new EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP) and follow specific work practices to reduce human exposures to lead. For a while, it may be difficult to find a contractor who is certified. Within a few months, most will be, however. For more info: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/pubs/renovation.htm
Have you thought about a real estate career? No, we’re not crazy suggesting this! The residential market is on the rebound. The ranks of Realtors have obviously thinned. Many consider the current time to be a “ground floor” opportunity. Real estate sales is not for everyone, but it could be for you! If you have any interest, check out the Career Info area of our website and/or call Lauren Buchel, our Agent Development Manager, to discuss.
It’s not Angie’s List, but it’s pretty good! Do you need a plumber, an attorney, a home inspector, maybe an electrician, or someone who can clean carpets or refinished hardwood floors? With 35 very active agents, we’ve put together our own list of people to call when you need help. There are obviously no guarantees, but included on the list are only those people who have been recommended by clients or agents who have actually used them. Give us a call. In most cases, we’ll give you three names to call and compare for yourself.
Did you know? In spite of a challenging market in 2009, our CENTURY 21 Kreuser and Seiler office increased its market share in almost every community we serve. MRED (the MLS serving Chicagoland) statistics indicate that we were the #1 office in sales volume for Libertyville (60048), Gurnee (60031), and the combined 5 zip codes that include Libertyville, Mundelein, Gurnee, Grayslake, and Lindenhurst/Lake Villa. We were also the #1 office in all Lake County for sales volume of homes sold between $250,000 and $1 Million in 2009. Our nationally-known Corporate Relocation Department continues to generate a lot of transferee buyer and seller clients, but our primary source of business is still referrals to our terrific agents from past clients, friends and acquaintances (i.e. people like you!). Thank you!
Tom Kreuser and M.J. Seiler