Luxury Home Sales Rising in Chicagoland

Luxury home sales are on the rise in the Chicago metropolitan area.

According to the latest RE/MAX Luxury Report on Metro Chicago Real Estate, luxury homes sold at a faster pace during the first quarter of 2015, January through March, than they did a year earlier in the seven-county area which includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Transaction activity was 16 percent higher for the period, with luxury home sales totaling 378 units.

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“We saw a slight decline in median sales prices in the luxury category during the first quarter, but in our view that isn’t a negative,” said Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. “Instead, it indicates that sales accelerated most rapidly in the $1 million to $1.5 million segment of the luxury market, which is what you would expect to see as consumer confidence rises.”

Luxury properties sold during the quarter were also finding buyers more quickly, requiring an average of just 144 days, compared to 158 days during the same period last year.

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The median sales price for those homes was $1,350,000 during the first quarter, down from $1,372,500 a year earlier.

Over the course of the last two years, luxury home sales in metro Chicago during the first quarter of the year have grown by 37 percent, and the lion’s share of that growth has been in Chicago, rather than in the suburbs. First-quarter city luxury sales rose 54 percent over that period, while suburban luxury sales gained 21 percent.

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The village of Winnetka led the way among suburbs of the metro Chicago area in the number of luxury homes sold during the first quarter of 2015.

According to a recent RE/MAX report, the village had 24 transactions from January 1 to March 31 - topping Hinsdale (19) and nearby communities Wilmette (13) and Lake Forest (13) as the next highest in the region.

Winnetka also ranked first with a median sales price of $1,700,000.

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Across the suburbs of the metro Chicago area, luxury home sales increased 13 percent during the first quarter of 2015, with 169 sales completed compared to 149 sales a year earlier.

The luxury housing market in the city of Chicago was 18 percent higher than in the same period of 2014, with 209 properties changing hands. The median sales price was $1,373,750, 2 percent less than a year ago.

Sales of detached homes for $1 million or more increased to 105 units, 30 percent more sales than in the first quarter of 2014. Those homes had a median sales price of $1,411,000 compared to $1,425,000 a year earlier.

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