The Chicago area luxury market has been heating up and new data shows that the area is among the hottest in the nation.
According to a report in Chicago Agent Magazine, sales of homes priced above $1 milllion totaled 1,149 in Chicago last year, a 12 percent increase, the seventh-higest in the nation. And this year there are 735 active listings above $1 million.
In absolute terms, only one market had more luxury sales than Chicago, San Diego with 1,165 total sales.
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here.
When Crain's wrote a story this week on CoreLogic's latest report that shows home values in the city rising faster than the rest of the state, they turned to Urban's Matt Silver, also the president-elect of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, for some insight.
"You hear so many more people say they want to bike to work, they want to walk to work, they don't want to spend so much of their day commuting," Silver told Crain's. "People are moving into the city at different stages of their lives, from their 20s to their 60s, because it's so vibrant now."
Read the full story at Crain's here.
The latest numbers are in from CoreLogic and the housing market continues it's climb this spring.
“Home prices continue to rise across the U.S. with every state posting year-over-year gains during the last 12 months,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
In Chicago, price gains outpaced the state, rising 3.1 percent year-over-year as of February. The state's gain was 2.5 percent.
The primary drivers of the price gains were improving economic conditions coupled with tight inventory, according to CoreLogic's economists.
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here.
This year will be the best year for housing in a decade, according to Freddie Mac. Aside from the long-term trends that have seen housing return to normalcy, Freddie Mac identified five things that will make 2016 the best since 2006.
• Low mortgage rates: Though rates rose in late 2015, they've since declined to just before 4 percent for a 30-year mortgage.
• The job market: Monthly job gains have netted just over 200,000 since 2011 and Freddie Mac is also anticipating wage growth.
• Household formation: Job gains coupling with the first Millennials hitting their milestones will goose household formation and put additional demand on housing.
• New construction: With demand up to historic highs and inventory low, new construction activity has been on the rise to supply the demand.
• Rising equity: Corelogic recently reported that a mere 8.53 percent of borrowers are underwater, down from 26 perncet in 2009. This trend has been spurred largely by home price appreciation.
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here.