North Shore Views

Evanston Real Estate Trends – March

The signs for Evanston’s housing market are improving. Sale activity is up significantly and inventories are down, indicating a move toward a more balanced market. Although prices are down vs. last year, the rate of decrease is slowing and appears to be reaching bottom.

Evanston Home Sales

Home sales in March were up 129% over last month and up 67% over March of last year. Sales for the first quarter are running 46% ahead of the same period last year. In both 2009 and 2010, 80% of home sales were below $500,000.

Evanston Home Prices

Consistent with surrounding suburbs, the increase in sales has been accompanied by a decrease in prices. The median sales price for single family homes (houses, condos and townhomes) was $274,900, down 13% from February and down 3.2% from March of last year. The average sales price was $335,065, down 8% from February and down 3% from March of last year.

Inventory and Months Supply

There were 793 homes for sale in Evanston as of March, up 9% from last month (typical seasonality) and down 7% vs. March of last year. The months supply of homes, which indicates how long it would take to sell all of the homes that are currently on the market, was 12 months, down from 22 months last March. Although the months supply is higher than we would like to see (6-7 months is a “balanced” market), Evanston’s months supply is lower than most of the other North Shore markets.

Market Time

The average days on market (DOM) is how many days a property is on the market before it sells and an upward trend indicates a move towards a buyer’s market. The DOM for March was 113 days, up 21% from last month and up 21% vs. march of 2009.

Tags: Evanston, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends

Evanston Real Estate Trends

Housing market trends for Evanston (including single family houses, condos and townhomes) mirror those of the rest of the North Shore. The good news: sales are up and inventories are down. The bad news: prices are down vs. last year and time on market is up.

Evanston Home Sales

December sales were up 28% vs. 2008. Total 2009 sales of 682 are down 10% vs. 2008.  However, the lower annual numbers are driven by a very weak market in the first half of 2009. Sales for the 2nd half of the year were up 12% vs. the second half of 2008.

Home Prices

December’s average price of $374,393 was 13% below December 2008 but 18% above the previous month, suggesting the downward slide of prices that began in early 2008 may be stabilizing.

Inventory and Months Supply

The total inventory of homes for sale was 646 in December, down 7% from November and down 9% vs. December 2008. This is the lowest level of inventory in over two years, good news for sellers, since pricing and time on market are ultimately driven by supply and demand. Months supply is 14 months, which means it would take 14 months to sell all the homes on the market at the current rate of sale.  This is 30% lower than December 2008 and moving in the right direction.

Market Time

The average days on market, which shows how many days the average home is on the market before it sells, was 92 days. This is 13% lower than November but 6% higher than last December.

Tags: Evanston, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends

North Shore Market Update – December 2009

In December 2009 sales of single family homes on the North Shore were up 32% vs. December 2008, while average prices were down 8%. Market time increased 21% to 200 days for sold properties.

Average prices declined in all towns except Glenview and Glencoe. Winnetka and Northfield had the largest price declines AND the largest increase in units sold, so price does seem to be the biggest driver in the market today.

Wilmette was the only town were there were fewer units sold in 2009 than 2008.

December 2009 vs. Year Ago*

	Units Sold	Avg. Price	Market Time
Town	% Change	% Chg	% Chg
Evanston	6%	-24%	20%
Wilmette	-22%	-14%	28%
Glenview	25%	16%	19%
Northfield	200%	-73%	159%
Winnetka	138%	-39%	-1%
Glencoe	38%	15%	69%
Highland Park	22%	-4%	-18%
Lake Forest	67%	-1%	25%
North Shore	32%	-8%	21%

* Single family homes (Source: MRED – Deemed reliable but not guaranteed)

Tags: Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Forest, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends, Northfield, Wilmette, Winnetka

November North Shore Market Update

North Shore real estate trends are currently a good news, bad news story.
The market is definitely inching towards a recovery, here as well as most
other markets, although the North Shore has benefited less from the first
time buyer tax credit than lower-priced markets. Sales on the North Shore
were up 21% in the latest two month period versus year ago, so reluctant
buyers are getting off the fence and things are moving again.  The not so
good news is that prices are down 7% and average time on market has
increased by 14% to 201 days. But that’s an average. Some properties are
selling quickly- those are the ones that are priced right from the
beginning, and buyers perceive a good value.

September-October 2009 vs. Year Ago*

Town	Units Sold % Change	Avg. Price % Change	Days on Mkt% Change
Evanston	+15%	-33%	+58%
Wilmette	-	-7%	-35%
Glenview	+22%	-12%	+51%
Northfield	+40%	-16%	+20%
Winnetka	-4%	-7%	+16%
Glencoe	+79%	-12%	-5%
Highland Park	+11%	-6%	-27%
Lake Forest	+119%	-3%	+12%
North Shore	+21%	-7%	+14%

* Single family homes (Source: MRED)



Tags: Evanston, Glencoe, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends, Wilmette, Winnetka