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. 

Earlier this week the National Association of Realtors released their numbers for existing home sales for February and to most people’s surprise, they were up. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for new home sales.

 

According to the Commerce Department, new home sales dropped 1.8% from January and were down nearly 30% from February 2007. This is the lowest level of sales for new homes in 13 years. 

 

Now in the third year of declining sales, the building industry is slowing construction of new homes and trying to concentrate on what home buyers are really looking for in today’s market. Many builders, both small and large, have had to close their doors altogether. In the end, the builders who are able to meet the current market’s needs will come out on top.

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.

Tuesday the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released sales numbers for February and nearly everyone was surprised. Expectations were for another reported loss in sales, but nationwide sales rose 2.9% from January to February, the first rise in sales in seven months! 

 

The downside to this good news was that, although volume increased, prices decreased. The NAR also reported national real estate prices declined 8.2%, the largest drop on record.

 

Although some people are saying that the market has bottomed, it seems the general feeling is one of cautious optimism. These numbers show that seller’s are finally accepting that the market has changed and their house may not be worth what it was a year or two ago. The low interest rates are still attractive to buyers and the tighter lending restrictions aren’t necessarily a bad thing for sellers. Yes the tighter restrictions will keep some buyers out of the market but the ones that are able to get a loan are able to because they have good credit and money to put down. Translated, that’s a strong buyer.

 

Locally, the nine county Chicago area had an increase in sales volume of about 10% and Illinois as a whole, about 15%.  Let’s hope that March can continue the up tick.