The percentage of Chicago sellers making concessions to buyers is up from last year.

Despite solid demand, a dearth of homes for sale kept transaction numbers muted in the association’s most recent report on pending sales. 

A shortage of existing inventory continues to drive buyers to new construction. 

Chicago’s average monthly rent payment is $1,874, while the average monthly mortgage payment — with a 6.8% mortgage rate — is $1,828.

Multiple-offer situations have returned with the spring buying season while distressed and forced sales are “virtually nonexistent,” the National Association of REALTORS® said.

Single-family permits also posted a gain, indicating even more new homes are headed to today’s supply-constrained housing market. 

Homebuilder optimism was buoyed by continued shortages of new housing inventory, the National Association of Home Builders reported. 

Chicago’s April average home value rose from March as pending sales stayed flat and new inventory fell.

Homebuyers in their 40s and younger are still planning to buy homes, even though most believe the market favors homesellers.

Interest rates on mortgages of all types declined last week, spurring an uptick in borrowing, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. 

The need for more space is common among all self-storage users: 40% of survey respondents listed this as their primary reason for renting storage space.

High demand drove multiple offers on about a third of pending sales, while 28% of homes sold above list price, the National Association of REALTORS® reported. 

The Real Data report highlights which brokers, teams and offices had the highest quarterly sales numbers across Chicagoland.

In Illinois, about 1.5 million of the state’s 5 million homes, 29.7%, are in a homeowner association. That ranks sixth among U.S. states.

U.S. government data shows builders increased the pace of single-family home construction while slowing the pace of multifamily starts. 

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose for the fourth month in a row in April as the construction industry remained “cautiously optimistic.”