Median Home Price and Sales Continue to Hold Edge in Metra Served Communities, RE/MAX Study Shows

Chicago, IL, October 02, 2014 --(PR.com)-- RE/MAX has released the results of its sixth annual Metra Communities Study, and it paints a bright picture of how the suburban Chicago housing market has rebounded from the 2007-2009 recession. Towns with Metra train service have experienced an 85 percent increase in home sales activity since 2009. That increase translated into 22,633 units changing hands during the first six months of 2014, while the time required to sell a home fell by 47 percent to an average of 98 days.

Sales activity for suburbs without Metra service rose 78 percent to 13,025 units during the January-June period of this year as compared to the same period in 2009. The average number of days on the market shortened 42 percent to 106 days. The study looked at Chicagoland suburbs in the seven-county Chicago real estate market and relied on sales data gathered by MRED, LLC, the regional multiple listing service.

The median home sales price for the seven-county suburban area (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties) was 15 percent higher during the first six-months of this year than its post-recession low point. In Metra-served towns, the increase was 18 percent to $189,900, while in suburbs without Metra stops, the median sales price climbed to $165,000, a 14 percent increase.

The study also found that the difference in housing market performance between towns with Metra stops and those without has been less pronounced over the past year.

Another portion of the RE/MAX Metra Communities Study compared homes sales activity in the suburbs along each of the 11 Metra lines that serve the Chicago suburbs.

That analysis showed that the median sales price in towns with stops along the Union Pacific North Line, which runs through such communities as Evanston, Winnetka, Highland Park and Lake Forest, increased 41 percent from the first half of 2009 to the first half of 2014. Along the Milwaukee District North Line, which serves communities including Glenview, Northbrook, Deerfield, Round Lake and Libertyville, the median sales price rose 4 percent. The Union Pacific West Line, serving such towns as Oak Park, Bellwood, Lombard, Wheaton and Geneva, had a median price 2 percent higher this year than in 2009. The median sales price was up 19 percent along the Metra Electric Line, where stops include Riverdale, Harvey, Homewood, Flossmoor and University Park.

The median sales price along each of the other seven Metra lines remained slightly below its 2009 level.

The RE/MAX study also grouped towns by their distance from downtown Chicago, looking at three sample towns along each Metra line -- one close to the city, one near the most distant end of the line and one near the mid-point of the line. The analysis showed that from the first half of 2009 through the first half of 2014, the suburbs located near the mid-point of each Metra line enjoyed the most rapid improvement in their residential markets. The time required to sell a home in those suburbs was shortened by 53 percent, the number of homes sold was 87 percent higher and the median sales price was up 1 percent.

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 mobile real estate app and www.illinoisproperty.com provide comprehensive information about residential and commercial property for sale in the region. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX, LLC, a global real estate organization with 90,000+ sales associates in 90+ nations.