Modern Home Statistics for March, 2020
Introduction
Hello, and thanks for reading. With at least another month of stay-at-home ordered by the Illinois’ governor, the real estate industry keeps changing to accommodate the circumstances we’re living through right now. If you’re thinking of buying or selling a modern home soon, PLEASE contact me so I can talk through how the processes are different during the coronavirus stay-at-home compared with “normal” times.
As a reminder, these statistics cover all the modern homes that I’ve been tracking, and are not necessarily listed or sold by me. Data is from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) system, which is called MRED, as well as from various county information sources.
March 2020 New Listings
As of this writing, there are currently 128 modern homes listed in the Chicagoland area in the areas I track. March saw a slight increase in the number of modern homes that came to market, with 48 new listings in those areas, spread out over 31 different towns.
As always, I like to mention that some of the “new listings” in any given month may have actually been on the market before. There’s not a good way to cross-reference that in our MLS, unfortunately.
Price Range
Prices range from $179,500 for a 1,935 square foot ranch in Urbana, to $1,975,000 for a 7,884 square foot 1983 modern 2-story home in Oak Brook.
Size range
Sizes of homes range from 1,205 square feet in Skokie listed at $250,000, to the 7,884 square foot home in Oak Brook mentioned above.
Distressed Properties
Three of the properties listed in March were listed as distressed properties: Two foreclosures and one short sale.
March 2020 Closed Properties
In March, 13 modern homes closed in the areas I track, spread across 10 towns. Remember that closings are typically at least a month behind new listings, so it tracks that more homes would’ve closed in March given that so many new homes came to market in February, and these are transactions that started before the lockdown / stay-at-home order, which didn’t start until March 20th.
Price Range
Prices ranged from $230,100 for a 1,913 square foot ranch in Downers Grove to $597,500 for a 2,799 square foot ranch in Lake Forest.
Size Range
Sizes of homes ranged from 1,541 square feet in Downers Grove that sold for $399,900 to a 5,500 square foot house that sold for $305,000 in Palos Park.
I think this would be the perfect time to mention that square footage and price, when looked at together, don’t necessarily mean anything. There are numerous factors that go into how a home prices out. If you saw my post last month about modern home values, you’ll have a better understanding of what many of those are. But this is a great example, because at the low end of the spectrum, square footage-wise, we see that the house in Downers Grove sold at a price per square foot of around $259, while the house in Palos Park – which, by the way, would have easily been one of the most spectacular houses you’d have been likely to see when it was built in 1957 – sold for just $55 per square foot. That’s an incredible discrepancy, but, as always, there were many factors that contributed to that massive difference.
I think it’s important to bring this up, because often sellers might think their house will sell for much more or much less than it’s likely to sell for, because they’re just going by the relative cost per square foot compared with another home that they know has sold recently, but unless you’re really comparing apples to apples, that price-per-square-foot approach can only be used to a certain extent.
Market Time
Market time for the homes sold in January ranged from 5 days, for a 1,700 square foot home in Highland Park that sold for $300,150, to 343 days for the Lake Forest home mentioned previously that sold for $597,500. That home, 743 Morningside Drive, will show a market time of 130 days in the MLS, because that’s how long it was on in the last version of the listing.
Regarding market time, it’s important to note that listings often get “canceled” and relisted, meaning the listing is canceled on our MLS even if the listing agreement between the seller and their agent is still in effect. The home is then re-listed on the MLS, often at a new price, but sometimes at the same price, just so that the home shows up as a “NEW” listing. This can cause serious inaccuracies in both sale price to listing price ratios, as well as market time, because the original listing, price and market time won’t be factored in if they were under a different listing number.
Distressed Properties
A home that sold in Barrington in March was a distressed property (a court-approved sale).
For More Detailed Information
If you’d like more specific information about the market where you live, I’d be happy to set up a meeting with you to come visit your home, even if you’re not thinking of selling soon. I’ll have you give me a tour of your house, we’ll talk about its features and quirks and then I can prepare a market report that will show you data specific to your property. The market report will give you a good idea of what you could realistically expect to sell your home for at that time. When you are ready to sell, I’ll create another, updated market report then that reflects current data at the time it’s prepared. There’s no cost or obligation for any of this, although I certainly would love to work with you when you’re ready to sell. Appointments are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis as my schedule permits.
Disclaimer
I always make an effort to provide information in these updates that’s as accurate as possible, however, I don’t track every town in the Chicago suburbs. If you’re curious about the market for modern homes specifically in your area, please let me know and if I’m not already tracking that area, I’ll start! Note that data provided is from various sources and I cannot control the accuracy or completeness of that data. Homes discussed in these updates are listed and sold by various brokerages and real estate agents and do not necessarily represent my personal listings or sales as a Realtor.
