Real estate professionals love statistics! Most of the statistics you see in the news talk about average home sale prices and the number of home sales taking place. While these are insightful metrics, there are three more statistics that are very useful to Chicago home buyers – and sellers!
1. Days on market. This is the number of days from when the home is listed for sale, until it has an accepted offer. It measures the speed of sales. The faster homes are going under contract, the more aggressive the buying activity. A fast-paced market can make home buyers feel pressured.
2. Home inventory. This statistic looks at the number of homes that are actively listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service. It’s measured in months of supply. When you hear something like “three months of home inventory,” it means that based on the current pace of sales, everything on the market would be sold within three months, if no other homes came to market. In short, it’s a way to look at home supply versus demand.
When the supply of homes for sale begins to increase, you’ll typically see the speed of sales, or days-on-market, slowing down. In turn, this means home prices could begin to soften. The opposite can happen too – when home supply is dwindling, home sales tend to pick up speed, and prices climb higher.
3. List-to-Sale ratio. Also called the “Sales-to-List” ratio. This expresses the difference between the list price home sellers asked for, and the actual sales price they accepted. For example, if a home was listed for $300,000, but it sold for $289,000, that means the seller received about 96% of the asking price. List-to-Sale ratios can signal how strong or weak a seller’s position might be in the current market.
Whether you’re a home buyer or seller, these statistics can give you a reasonable expectation of market conditions. Ask your StartingPoint Realty broker about recent sales trends in your area of Chicagoland!
StartingPoint Realty – serving first-time home buyers since 2004!
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Always feel welcome to contact us for help with your Chicago home buying questions!
Ryan Gable Broker/CEO Starting Point Realty
Phone: 847.348.1154
Email: RyanGable@startingpointrealty.com
https://startingpointrealty.com/
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