Home sales in suburban Chicago posted fantastic numbers in November, with some communities seeing triple-digit increases in sales.

Home sales in suburban Chicago increased by 35.6 percent year-over-year in November as the market continued to show signs of a recovery, according to the latest stats from the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe).

Altogether, MORe’s data covered 200 different communities in DuPage, Lake and suburban Cook county.

A Strong November for Real Estate in Suburban Chicago

The detached single-family home market, MORe found, had particularly impressive numbers in November:

• The number of detached homes under contract grew 54 percent year-over-year in November for suburban Chicago, with the median sale price increasing by 3 percent.
• As impressive as that 54 percent may be, though, MORe uncovered some sales in specific communities that seem fantastical: in Carol Stream, for instance, the single-family detached home market posted a 125 percent year-over-year increase in sales; in Downers Grove, sales were up 138 percent; and in La Grange, they rose an incredible 220 percent.
• Other communities spotlighted by MORe included: Franklin Park, where sales jumped 120 percent; Hanover Park, where they rose 109 percent; and Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows and Villa Park, where sales rose a respective 119, 133 and 108 percent.

Incentivizing Homebuyers in Chicago Real Estate

Michael Parent, the managing broker of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in St. Charles and 2012-2013 president-elect of MORe, said his office has “definitely been busier,” and he credits more accurate pricing on the part of home sellers as the main reason for the increase in business.

“Sellers have finally priced their properties at where they have to be,” Parent said. “They’re putting themselves in the right position.”

For too long, Parent continued, sellers clung to the long-forgotten prices of the boom years, but now that they are adapting to the current housing market and pricing their homes accordingly, they are enticing homebuyers and opening themselves to multiple offer situations. One of his office’s agents, Parent added, conducted 26 showings recently for a properly priced property over a single weekend.

“Price it right,” Parent said, “and buyers have an incentive.”