Chicago area home sales plunge

By Mary Umberger
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 25, 2006, 12:30 PM CDT


The nation's gloomy housing picture got uglier in September, as home sales in the Chicago area dropped off steeply.

Nationwide, existing-home sales declined, though less dramatically, as the real estate industry's chief economist announced that the market is actually improving.

Home sales in Illinois fell about 20 percent last month, and sales in the Chicago area plummeted 26 percent from a year earlier.

Median home prices dropped about 8 percent statewide, though stayed about even in the Chicago area, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.

Nationally, existing single-family sales were off about 2 percent, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.18 million homes, the lowest since January 2005 and slightly worse than many economists had forecast.

U.S. median home prices declined for the second straight month, by 2.2 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, the trade group's chief economist, David Lereah, said he believed the worst part of the housing slowdown was over.

"This is likely the trough in sales," he said. His organization predicted, however, that median prices probably wouldn't begin to rise until early spring.

Mumberger@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...i-business-hed