RE/MAX Luxury Report on Chicago Real Estate:$1 Million-Plus Home Sales Outpaced Market in Jan

CHICAGO - June 4, 2013 - PRLog -- CHICAGO, June 3, 2013 – RE/MAX reports that the luxury segment of the Chicago real estate market, consisting of homes that cost $1 million or more, showed impressive strength through the first four months of 2013.  The number of residential sales in that segment increased 32 percent during the period when compared to the same four months last year.  In contrast, sales activity for all residential property in Chicago rose 23 percent on the same basis.

Chicago luxury home sales during the first four months of this year were at their highest level since 2008, with 203 properties changing hands, according to the RE/MAX Luxury Report on Chicago Real Estate, a new bimonthly analysis of home sales in the $1 million plus segment.

The median price of a luxury home held fairly steady from January through April.  It was $1,383,900 during January and February and rose slightly to $1,395,000 during the March-April period.  

While luxury home sales were up in both the attached and detached categories, attached units, consisting of condos, co-ops and townhouses, registered the greatest gains when compared to the same months in 2012.  Sales activity rose 36 percent to 106 units, including a 39 percent increase in the March-April period.  

The median price of an attached luxury home sold in March and April came in at $1.39 million, up from $1.32 million a year earlier.

The Near North area dominated the luxury attached market in the city, accounting for 77 of the 106 sales and generating a robust median sales price of $1,545,000 during March and April, which is 18 percent higher than during the same period last year.  The Loop accounted for 15 of the remaining 29 sales in the luxury attached category, with the March-April median price coming in at $1,345,000, compared to $1,330,000 a year earlier.

Sales of detached luxury properties in Chicago increased by 28 percent to 97 units, and the median price for March and April reached $1.43 million, up 16 percent from the two-month period in 2012.

The two leading communities for luxury detached sales were Lincoln Park and North Center.  Twenty-eight luxury homes were sold in Lincoln Park during the first four months of this year, compared to 32 a year earlier.  In North Center, 27 homes sold during the period, up from 11 last year.  

The March-April median price in Lincoln Park was $1,598,000, which represented a 25 percent increase from a year earlier.  In North Center the median was $1,286,750, a gain of 4 percent.  The highest median price for a luxury home was on the Near North Side, where five homes were sold at a median price of $2,125,000.

Overall, six communities accounted for 91 of the 97 detached luxury homes sold in the city from January through April.  In addition to Lincoln Park, North Center and the Near North Side, those communities are Lake View, Logan Square and West Town.

RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989.  The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network, with headquarters in Elgin, Ill., consists of 2,000 sales associates and 100 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of residential and commercial brokerage services.  Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands.  The www.global.remax.com website allows consumers to search properties across the globe and www.theremaxcollection.com is a specialized portal of luxury properties across the U.S.  The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 91,000 sales associates in 90+ nations.  The RE/MAX organization has been recognized for numerous industry honors for excellence, and its Associates continue to lead the industry in professional designations, experience and production.  Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX.  RE/MAX is the official real estate partner of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the national sponsor of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.