Marking the fastest sales pace since Dec. 2007, HousingWire reports home sales in Chicago’s seven county region in August picked up, with properties spending only 139 days on the for sale market as opposed to 165 days in Aug. 2011, according to REMAX. August 2012 home sales rose nearly 27 percent over last August, to 9,145 units sold. While the median price of homes fell 4.4 percent from a year ago to $170,000, MHProNews has learned distressed sales for the second month in a row accounted for 37.5 percent of all transactions in August. This marked an increase from 36.1 percent in July 2012, and up from 36.4 percent last August.

(Photo credit: WenatcheeWorld/Mike Irwin)