Both the National Association of Realtors and the Illinois Association of Realtors released data on Thursday comparing June of ’07 to June of ’08 real estate sales and what we saw was not pretty. 

 

Illinois reported sales volume (number of homes sold) for the Chicago metro area were down nearly 28% with the median sales price slipping 3.3%.  

 

I broke out the numbers for Naperville and found us none the better. In fact we’re a bit worse off. Using sales data from the MLS I found that our sales volume was down 35% and our median sales price slipped nearly 10%!  

 

Now before everyone begins to panic, let’s look at the numbers a little differently.  We’ll start with our median sales price. June of ’07 was the highest in the past two years.  If you look back, June of ’08 was actually a 1.5% increase compared to the same month two years ago (when the market supposedly peaked). The most likely reason would be the slow down in the high end of the market.  Homes under $500,000 have had the strongest demand and have not seen as much of a decline.

 

Next let’s look at our sales volume decrease. The number of homes selling has certainly slipped.  It’s difficult to spin that into a positive. But if you look at the monthly sales for the first half of ’07 and this year, you’ll see the two years are following the same trend with this year posting lesser numbers.

 

This data just tells us what we already know, the market is slow.  If you don’t have to sell don’t. And if you do, make sure your home is priced to sell.  This is not the time to test the market. On the flip side, now is defiantly the time to buy.  

The Illinois Housing Development Authority is sponsoring a Homeowner Outreach day on Saturday at the DuPage Township Levy Center. The outreach day is part of a statewide initiative to help homeowners learn their options and possibly help them refinance their homes. The state’s homeowner assistance pool has funds to help homeowners with rising mortgage costs and offers refinancing loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration with favorable rates. 

 

The Homeowner Outreach Day will be held from 9am to 1pm this Saturday, April 5^th at the DuPage Township Levy Center located at 251 Canterbury, Bolingbrook. For more information call 800-532-8785 or visit www.illinois.gov.

Naperville has been named to yet another “best of list.” In its April 2008 issue, Fortune Small Business magazine named Naperville number 29 on its “100 Best Places to Live and Launch” list. The magazine examined metro areas across the country using US Census data looking for family friendly areas that also had strong small business growth. From there, they narrowed the search down to the city level.

 

Naperville was the only Illinois city to be named to the list. Our school systems were tops on our pros list and our heavy traffic was our largest negative. The magazine considered other lifestyle factors, such as parks and other public infrastructure. Business factors such as tax rates and job growth were also considered. According to their web site, Naperville “boasts the lowest municipal property tax rates in the Chicago metropolitan area, and Naperville entrepreneurs benefit from a number of state tax incentives targeting small business.” They go onto say that “in 2007, the city fielded 116 start-ups.”

 

Naperville has been recognized many times over as a wonderful place for people of all ages to live. Now it is being recognized on a national level for its small business development as well. 

I have lived in Naperville my entire life and I could not begin to count how many awards this city has received, even over the recent years. Money magazine has named Naperville in the top 10 cities in the country to raise a family at least 3 times, we have the number one public library system in the country, and two amazing school districts, 203 & 204. Naperville has great shopping & restaurants giving you few reasons to need to leave but if you want to get out it’s only a short ride into Chicago. There a hundreds of reasons to live in Naperville.

 

Well an article in today’s Sun gives us a few more. Real estate values have traditionally been strong in Naperville and even in a weak market the city’s strong points have helped to keep our values up, at least in comparison to our neighboring cities and towns. The nine county Chicago area had February sales down 26.9% from the same month in 2007, while Naperville was only down 18%. 

 

Remember that the 18% decrease is sale volume, not value. According to the Sun, Naperville prices are on the rise, reporting that “compared to February 2007, median sale prices grew by 12.2% for single-family homes and 21.9% for condominiums.” So even though fewer homes are selling, home values don’t seem to be dropping off. 

 

Naperville is fortunate because many of the things that draw its residents to move, and stay here, are the same things that are helping the property values.