Home sales remained steady across the Chicagoland suburbs as the industry prepared for changes in August and beyond, according to the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®.
Aug.17 marked the date that MLS rule changes went into effect because of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) legal settlement. In Illinois, even more changes are on the way.
Detached suburban home sales were up 4.3% year over year with 2,946 sales during July. Homes under contract, however, dropped 2%. Meanwhile, attached suburban homes sales were up 7.1% in July, year over year, with 1,327 sales, and attached homes under contract grew by 4.6%.
During that same period, the median price for an attached home rose from $245,000 to $265,000: an 8% bump. The price increase for detached homes was even starker with the median price climbing 10.8% to $410,000 in July.
The suburbs which saw the most dramatic year-over-year detached price increases were, in order: Crete (58.5% increase), Oak Forest (38.9%), LaGrange (34.1%), Lemont (27.2%), Elmhurst (26.2%), Glen Ellyn (24.5%), Calumet City (24%), Lombard (21.4%), Park Forest (18.4%), South Holland (17.7%), Aurora (17.2%), Sycamore (16.9%), Zion (16.6%), Charles (16.5%), Carol Stream (15.1%), Buffalo Grove (14.9%), Gurnee (13.6%) and Hinsdale (11.4%).
In a press release that shared the data, Mainstreet President Tim Ryan and CEO John Gormley commented on the practice changes that will affect local consumers.
“When working with an agent, buyers can expect to have a conversation at the onset of the relationship to discuss what the agent will do, how representation will work and what costs are associated,” Ryan said, outlining the rule change. “Following this conversation, buyers will sign an agreement with their agent, and then their agent will get to work.”
“Ultimately, we expect these practice changes will help foster even greater transparency in the real estate market. Agreements have been commonplace on the sellers’ side, and these changes bring the same formality to the buyers’ side of the equation,” Gormley concluded.