(The Center Square) – In keeping with the Halloween theme, the Illinois housing market is pretty scary right now.
With rising home prices and interest rates, many Illinois homeowners are staying put, keeping housing inventories low around the state. According to Illinois Realtors, there are nearly 30% fewer homes on the market in Illinois than this time last year.
Chicago has seen a 26% decrease in housing inventories in comparison to last year, Joliet a nearly 34% decrease, and Rockford has seen an over 46% decrease in available homes.
In Rockford, homes are only averaging eight days on the market, the seventh lowest average in the country.
Doug Ressler, manager with the real estate website Point2Homes.com, said the inventory problem is not confined to Illinois.
“The lack of inventory is a problem nationwide,” Ressler said. “What’s happening is people are sitting on their homes, the builders aren’t building because the transactions are just not occurring and the home sales are not there.”
For sale inventory has reached near historic lows, with 28 of the 200 largest U.S. housing markets having their housing stock cut in half since 2022. California’s Fremont and Sunnydale markets are now seeing 60% fewer homes compared to last year.
As a result of the contributing factors, home sales are lagging in the Land of Lincoln. In September 2023, a total of 11,483 homes sold was 17.4% lower than 13,900 sold in September 2022. That includes single-family homes and condominiums.
Ressler said he expects the issues affecting the Illinois housing market to stay in place for some time.
“The way it stands right now, we don’t see any relief until 2025 when interest rates start to decelerate,” Ressler said.
