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The state of Illinois has seen significant improvements in housing across most counties in the past year. Will County is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and reported the highest volume of home sales activity since before the start of the recession. Realtors aren’t expecting home prices to return to pre-recession values, but are cautiously optimistic that a recovery is underway.
Home sales activity in 2012 improved across the state, but was particularly impressive in Will County where the region reported over 7,000 home sales for the first time since before the recession began in 2007. David McClintock is CEO of Three Rivers Realtors Association located within the county, and is optimistic the local market will continue to improve. He says the number of homes that were on the market for more than three months was lower than it has been in the last few years, which underscores the fact that homes are indeed selling.
“There’s been a pent-up demand to purchase and a pent-up demand to sell. All in all, we’re very optimistic.”
McClintock suggests most home sales data has improved in the last year with the exception of the county’s average sale price, which slipped by approximately $3,000 over the year and has declined over $55,000 since Will County peaked in 2005. He says that the lessons from the housing crash will likely prevent home values from returning to those record highs – realtors are unwilling to leave overvalued homes on the market. Nevertheless, McClintock says the volume of sales activity is good news for all groups associated with the housing market, including realtors, home inspectors, appliance stores, law offices, and mortgage firms.
Improving conditions were also reported in neighboring Kendall County and Grundy County, while Illinois Association of Realtors President Michael Oldenettel says 2012 was a good year for housing across the entire state.
“When you look at where we were in January 2012 versus where we ended up in December, you have to be impressed with the market’s resilience.”