A laggard a year ago, the city’s condo market has revived so much it’s bringing the overall housing market to new heights.
December 22, 2021 10:08 AM
UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
DENNIS RODKIN
Residential buildings Lakeshore East
Corcoran Urban Real Estate
Residential buildings in Lakeshore East, including 360 E. Randolph (center), where a two-bedroom condominium sold for $825,000 in November.
A strong revival in the city’s condo market led a late-fall surge in Chicago-area housing, according to data released this morning.
Both the number of homes sold in the city and the median price of those sales rose by double digits in November from the same time a year ago, according to the data from Illinois Realtors. For the city, November was one of the strongest months in 2021 and followed three months when sales volume and prices both grew sluggishly, seemingly tired after a string of boom months. seemingly tired after a string of boom months.
In November, 2,338 homes sold in Chicago, up 15.9% from the same month a year ago. That’s saying a lot, because in November 2020, the pandemic-era housing market was on fire, and home sales at that time were up 20.8% percent from November 2019.
That is, November 2021 grew by double digits over a month that was already up by double digits. More homes sold during the month than in any other November in Illinois Realtors’ records, which go back to January 2008.
The median price of homes sold in Chicago in November was $327,000, up 10.8% from a year earlier. Here too, the increase is on top of a strong year-ago figure: The median in November 2020 was up 9.3%.
That was a time when downtown home sales were struggling under the the weight of pandemic shutdowns and spasms of social unrest. In 2021 the condo market came roaring back, and it’s having a notable impact on citywide real estate figures.
Taken by itself, the city’s condo market was considerably stronger thanshutdowns and spasms of social unrest. In 2021 the condo market came roaring back, and it’s having a notable impact on citywide real estate figures.
Taken by itself, the city’s condo market was considerably stronger than its overall housing market. In November, 1,405 attached homes—meaning condos and townhouses—sold in the city, up 32.4% from the same time a year ago.
Year-to-date at the end of November, attached home sales were up 43.3%, compared to an increase of 29.2% for sales of all types of homes. This is according to separate data released Dec. 14 by the Chicago Association of Realtors.
“Condo sales, in particular, reflect the resiliency of Chicago’s market and the momentum we continue to see,” Antje Gehrken, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors and president of A.R.E. Partners, said in prepared comments that accompanied the Illinois Realtors data.
Home sales in a nine-county metropolitan area totaled 10,321 in November, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier. This may seem slight, but consider that it’s on top of November 2020, when home sales were up more than 33% from November 2019, before the pandemic rocket-fueled the housing market.
Like the city figure, the metrowide sales figure is the largest number of homes sold in any November going back to at least 2008.
Here’s another sign that the city’s condo market is leading the charge: In the metro area, 120 more homes sold in November 2021 than in November 2020. The increase in the number of city condos sold in the same period was 344. Thus, the city condo market gets the credit for the metro housing market’s record sales volume.
The median price of homes sold in the metro area in November was $290,000, up 7.8% from November 2021. This too was stronger than the previous three months, when prices appeared to be taking a breather after a string of 12 months when prices were up by double digits from their corresponding months a year before.
Nationwide, home sales fell by 2% in November from a year earlier, according to data released separately today by the National Association of Realtors. The median sale price of existing homes was up 13.9%.
Ginger Menne Real Estate 