The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 5.73 percent in January 2008, down 0.41 points from the 6.14 average rate during the previous month, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Last year in January it averaged 6.29 percent.
In the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), total home sales were 3,926 in January 2008, down 34.0 percent from 5,947 home sales in the same month of 2007. The median home sale price for the Chicago PMSA was $239,700 in January 2008, down 2.2 percent from $245,000 in January 2007.
Several counties reported median sale price increases in January 2008 compared to the same month a year ago including Winnebago, up 12.2 percent to $130,500; Madison, up 2.7 percent to $113,000; McLean, up 8.8 percent to $160,000; Peoria, up 15.8 percent to $117,000; and Sangamon, up 9.7 percent to $116,000.
"The sales forecasts for the months of January, February, and March 2008 suggest a continuing decrease in the sales decline for the state as a whole and a somewhat larger decline in Chicago comparing the forecast month with the same month in the previous year," said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois. "The month-to-month forecasts suggest the possibility of a modest uptick in sales in February and a larger gain in March. The latter month has always recorded a large month-to-month increase reflecting a burgeoning increase in the housing market with the onset of spring."
About the longer-term economic outlook, Hewings said: "Continued high oil prices and the consumers' reluctance to spend-consumer sentiment is at a two-year low--provide sources of concern."
