Luxury home sales in the Chicago area are thriving in 2014. Home sales for the $1 million-plus segment of homes in the seven-county Chicago metro area are up 8% over 2013, according to the RE/MAX Luxury Report on Metro Chicago Real Estate.
In the first three quarters of 2014, there were 1,675 total units sold at $1 million or more in Chicago, with a median sales price of $1,350,000, which is up 3% compared to the same period in 2013.
During the third quarter, sales of luxury homes totaled 736 units, a 13% increase over the same quarter of last year, the RE/MAX report states. The median sales price for luxury properties rose 3% in the third quarter to $1,340,000.
The average time on the market for luxury properties sold during the first nine months of this year in the seven-county Chicago metropolitan area was 130 days, down from an average of 166 days in 2013.
Average market time during the third quarter was 123 days, down from 132 days in 2013.
In the City of Chicago itself, luxury sales were up 13% to 763 units through the first nine months of 2014, while the median sales price for the period was $1,400,000, up 2%.
During the third quarter, sales of $1 million or more totaled 320 units in the city, up from 270 in 2013, representing a 19% gain. The median sales price for the third quarter was $1,425,000, up 6% from the same quarter of 2013.
Sales activity in the first nine months of 2014 increased in each of the three neighborhoods that dominate Chicago’s luxury attached-home (condominiums, townhouses or co-ops) market. The Loop saw sales rise to 51 units from 44 the prior year.
In Lincoln Park, sales rose to 60 units from 33, and the Near North Side had 219 sales, up from 199. The median sales price was $1.25 million in Lincoln Park and $1.4 million in both the Loop and Near North Side.
Six community areas in Chicago, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Near North Side, North Center and West Town, accounted for 88% of all luxury detached home sales in the nine-month period.
In the Chicago suburbs, luxury sales totaled 913 units for the January-September period, up 3% from last year. The median sales price also gained 3% to $1,300,000, and average market time shortened by 16% to 150 days.
The most active suburban luxury market for the first nine months of 2014 was Winnetka, where 121 homes sold for at least $1 million, 15% more than in the same period last year. The median sales price was $1,440,000.
Among the other most active markets, Wilmette was the second busiest, with 94 sales and a median price of $1,307,500. Hinsdale had 93 sales and a median price of $1,505,000.
Other top suburban luxury markets in terms of closed sales were Lake Forest with 73 at a median of $1,350,000, Glenview with 58 sales at a median of $1,184,000, Glencoe with 51 sales at a median of $1,475,000, the Barrington area with 35 sales at a median of $1,370,000, Highland Park with 29 sales at a median of $1,210,000 and Naperville with 28 sales at a median of $1,188,500.
