Home sales are down across Chicago’s suburbs as inventory remains historically low. However, even as potential buyers dwindle, homes were on the market fewer days during July, according to new data from the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®.

During July 2022, 3,511 detached homes sold in the suburbs of Chicago: down 25.2% year over year. And attached homes showed a similar decrease, down 23.1% from last year to 3,450 sales.

The areas which saw the sharpest decrease in detached homes sales were, in order:
Wood Dale (a 60% decrease), Western Springs (50%), Downers Grove (54.1%), Niles (48.3%), Orland Park (47.4%), Lindenhurst (47.3%), Elmhurst (44.4%), Geneva (41.7%), Arlington Heights (38.4%), Bartlett (38.1%), Sycamore (36.8%), Elmwood Park (36.7%), Schaumburg (35.9%), Rolling Meadows (34.8%), Green Oaks – Libertyville (32.8%), Lake Villa – Montgomery (31.1%) and Glen Ellyn (30.2%).

“Sellers are becoming less opportunistic,” Mainstreet Board of Directors President John LeTourneau said in a press release. “We’re not seeing people move unless they really have to, which means the market is coming back to a more realistic balance.”

Mainstreet CEO John Gormley said, “There’s no question home sales are slowing. But … when the right buyer finds the right house, it’s still going to move very quickly.”

And that was apparently true in July. Even though the median sales price for detached homes had risen 3.8% from last year, to $355,000, time on the market dropped. The average detached home stayed on the market for just 24 days: down five days from July 2021.