The gloom over Chicago's real estate market may be coming to an end.

June marked the fifth consecutive month-on-month increase in home sales statewide, including Chicago. It was the fourth monthly increase in the statewide median home sale price. In a release issued by the Illinois Association of Realtors^®, association President Pat Callen says, “We are moving through inventories and that?s a good sign for the Illinois housing market. Year-over-year sales are still lower, but one promising trend is the rate of decline has slowed in recent months and is now at a pace last seen in the third quarter of 2007. More first-time buyers are taking advantage of the federal tax credit while distressed properties prolong the downward pressure on prices.”

Chicago’s Home Sales Numbers Up for Fifth Consecutive Month

In the city of Chicago the median price of a home was up 7.0 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to $230,000 compared to $215,000 in the first quarter of 2009; it was down 25.8 percent from $310,000 in the second quarter of 2008. Total home sales (single-family, condominiums, and town homes) jumped 65.2 percent to 4,947 homes sold in the second quarter of 2009 compared 2,995 home sales in the first quarter; sales were down 21.3 percent from 6,287 homes sold in the second quarter of 2008.

In a world of supply and demand, experts are saying now is the time to buy. As inventory depletes, housing prices will begin to stabilize and the rise again in the upcoming years. Buyers are now taking advantage of favorable rates, inventory, pricing, and incentives. For those shoppers who continue to sit back waiting to see if rates will get lower and prices will drop more will have probably missed the best opportunity.

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