Oct. 24, 2007
(Crain’s) — The Chicago area saw 27% fewer existing homes sold in September compared with the same month last year.
A total of 6,794 homes were sold last month in the nine-county Chicagoland Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area, compared with 9,307 in September 2006, the Illinois Assn. of Realtors reported Wednesday.

The year-over-year decrease statewide was nearly 23%. A total of 10,476 Illinois homes were sold in September, the association said.

For the first nine months of the year, Illinois sales dropped 15.4% from the same period last year.
Illinois and Chicago-area September declines were higher than the national figure of 19.1%. A total of 5.04 million existing homes were sold last month nationwide, according to a National Assn. of Realtors report also released Wednesday.

Home prices fared better than sales numbers. The Illinois Assn. of Realtors reported the statewide median price last month was $200,000, up 0.8% from September last year. That means half the homes sold last month were below $200,000 and half were above.

The Midwest and the Northeast were the only two regions in the nation that reported a rise in September median housing prices. The Midwest median price was $170,700, up 1.4% from a year ago, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.

Nationwide, the median housing price fell 4.2% to $211,700 in September.