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RE/MAX Luxury Report on Metro Chicago Real Estate: $1 Million-Plus Home Sales in 1st Quarter Reach New Heights, Prices Rebound

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300639431.html

he market for Chicago-area homes selling at $1 million or more showed broad strength in the first quarter of 2018, according to the RE/MAX Luxury Report on Metro Chicago Real Estate, a quarterly analysis of market activity. First-quarter sales totaled 489 units, the most in that quarter since RE/MAX began tracking luxury sales in 2011 and an increase of +7.5% over the same quarter last year.

Perhaps of even greater significance was the +5.5% increase in the median sales price of $1-million-plus homes, which came in at $1.35 million. It was the second consecutive quarterly gain following four quarters in which the median price declined in comparison to the same period one year earlier.

A third encouraging result for the quarter was a continued reduction in the number of unsold homes listed for at least $1 million. Luxury listings fell -5.6% to 2,742 units, declining only -0.6% in the City of Chicago but falling -8.4% in the suburbs where the inventory had been especially high for the last few years. Even with that reduction, existing luxury listings in the suburbs still represent a 22.5-month supply of homes based on the pace of first-quarter sales. In comparison, there is an 11.8-month supply of luxury homes in Chicago.

Chicago's luxury-attached-home market enjoyed an upbeat first quarter, with 140 luxury units changing hands, +16.7% more than the same period in 2017. That compares to 120 luxury detached homes sold in the quarter, a decline of -1.6%, but still the second strongest first-quarter sales figure for luxury detached homes since RE/MAX began tracking that data in 2011.

The combined +7.4% increase in city luxury sales for the quarter came along with an uptick in average market time to 166 days, a 12-day increase. And while the inventory of luxury homes for sale in the city remained essentially stable, falling just -0.6%, that result masked an interesting split. The inventory of luxury attached homes, spurred by new development, rose +12.9%, while the detached luxury inventory was down -14.7%, reflecting a recent slowing of new construction in that category.