The average price of a single-family home rose to $217,700, while the National Association of Realtors reports the median existing home price for all types of housing hit $224,100, a gain of 7.6 percent over the previous year.
Another study reveals that homeowners spend between one and four percent of the home’s value annually for maintenance and repairs.
While Dec. is not thought of as the best home-buying month, in the nine-county Chicago area last month over 8,265 homes were sold, marking an increase over Dec. 2014 of 2.1 percent. While Chicago prices are still below pre-recession levels (adjusted for inflation), in 2015 home sales totaled 111,462, a 6.6 percent rise over 2014 figures.
Alvin “Chip” Wagner III of A.L. Wagner Appraisal Group in Naperville, said, “The residential housing market in the Chicago region continues to see an undersupply of housing, and, with the increasing trend of homes under contract, it’s likely that we’ll continue to see increasing values in 2016. The reduced inventory of distressed housing, including short sales and foreclosures, is also helping our average sales price growth.”
The final word: Real estate markets tend to do well in presidential election years. ##
(Photo credit: wikipediacommons-Chicago skyline)
