Evanston Illinois and Chicago real estate listings, home buying, selling and relocation information

Suzannah is more than a great realtor. She is trustworthy and patient. She goes out of her way to make her clients' dreams a reality, well beyond the closing table. Suzannah comes highly recommended and regarded by very satisfied clients.
--Beth & Andy

Market Analysis: December, 2009

As Novembers go, this one was pretty darned respectable! Condo contracts actually held pretty much even with October and virtually DOUBLED November '08 which is a welcome and cockle-warming sign that the market is improving (whether organically or due to the extended/expanded buyer credit remains to be seen). While contracts fell from October for single family homes, the overall number of contracts exceeded that of November '08 by about 20%. The polarity in trends makes sense when you consider that the first-time homebuyer market is providing very welcome CPR for the condo market while houses (which first-time buyers aren't typically purchasing) are following the seasonal pattern of slowing down for the holiday months.

As for inventory, both types of housing saw decreases in availablilty. Interestingly, new additions INCREASED for single family homes in November (and I'm not sure I can explain that intelligently) but decreased for condos and other attached housing. Expirations and cancellations held pretty steady since July for both types of housing, averaging 60/mo for condos and 40/mo for single family homes. Of course, many of those "recycle" and come on as new (now that the MLS no longer provides cumulative market time on agent or client reports), but of course many have given up altogether.

Closings for condos saw a spike in November which correlates almost certainly to the initial push to close by 11/30 for the first-time buyer credit. Again, since most first-time buyers are not house buyers, it makes sense that SFHs saw a decrease in closings in November.

Absorption rates are all over the map, but continue to climb. For condos priced up to $400k, rates hover around 8 months, and for everything above that price point, around 15 months (yikes!). Single family homes are holding at around a 5-6 month supply, with a glut of inventory in the $600k-$700k and $900k-$1M zones and then again for everything over $1.25M. Interestingly, corresponding market times fell for contracted condos AND houses, which has been the overall trend for condos since July--though for houses only since September.

December is proving to be stronger for houses than for condos--an aberration against seasonal expection--so I'll have to dig a little deeper next month and see if I can surmise an explanation. But hey, a good December is a beautiful thing! And if rates can stay suppressed for a while, 2010 may be our best spring market in a dog's age...

Speaking of a dog's age, big news on a professional front: Susie & I have expanded our team to include the fabulous Tora Stoneman AND this month have transitioned over to @properties in downtown Evanston. As desperately sad as we were to leave our K&S family and home, @ is providing us a vibrant, high-tech environment and hands-down the best marketing and administative support we've ever encountered. We are absolutely pumped to get the spring market rolling in the New Year with a new broker, a new office, a new team, and some seriously rockin' new energy! Email (gmail) and cell phone remain the same. HAPPY NEW YEAR!