July 8, 2022
Dear Friends,
Last year at this time my market report showed record breaking statistics for North Shore single family home sales as the market in 2021 was exceptionally strong. This year the market has again been exceptionally strong in the first half of the year. In fact, the average market time dropped another 37% to just 52 days. Median prices went up 8% this year after a large rise last year. However, the number of North Shore single family home sales dropped 16% this year after having jumped to a record high last year. The number of sales was still above average this year, but given the low inventory, it is not surprising the number of sales dropped from last year.
Here are the first half statistics.
| Number of Homes Sales | Average Market Time | |||||||
| 1/2 yr-21 | 1/2 yr-22 | 1/2 yr-21 | 1/2 yr-22 | |||||
| Wilmette | 237 | 172 | 63 | 31 | ||||
| Evanston | 248 | 231 | 47 | 34 | ||||
| Winnetka | 174 | 139 | 90 | 52 | ||||
| Glenview | 398 | 313 | 76 | 45 | ||||
| North Shore | 2926 | 2470 | 82 | 52 | ||||
| Average Home Price (in thousands) | Median Home Price (in thousands) | |||||||
| 1/2 yr-21 | 1/2 yr-22 | % Change | 1/2 yr-21 | 1/2 yr-22 | % Change | |||
| Wilmette | 943 | 1077 | 14% | 865 | 898 | 4% | ||
| Evanston | 760 | 765 | 1% | 667 | 660 | -1% | ||
| Winnetka | 1447 | 1879 | 30% | 1234 | 1499 | 21% | ||
| Glenview | 737 | 820 | 11% | 661 | 707 | 7% | ||
| North Shore | 791 | 918 | 16% | 650 | 700 | 8% | ||
The above statistics are for detached single-family homes and were compiled from data collected by the Multiple Listing Service (Midwest Real Estate Data LLC), and may not include all home sales.
Prices: Last year prices went up for the first time in seven years. North Shore Prices had been flat since 2014. This year they went up again. The median price for a North Shore single family home went up 8%, however, the average price went up 16%. This significant gap between these two price statistics tells me that there was a larger percentage of high-end homes selling this year. This is consistent with my observation of the market. I saw a larger than normal number of upper end homes selling this year causing the average price to go up much more than the median.
Inventory: Inventory has now dropped for 3 years in a row. Last year we saw record low inventory and this year it dropped even further. I am now including homes on the Realtor private network in my inventory numbers since many homes are selling while listed there. Inventory is down about 20% from last year and is about 30% of a typical inventory. Wilmette currently has 53 active detached single-family homes on the market that are not under contract. In a typical year, that number would be close to 200. The North Shore as a whole has 978 such homes on the market and in a typical year that number would be close to 3000.
Interest Rates: Rising interest rates may be getting even more attention than the rising prices. Last year at this time a 30-year fixed conforming loan had a rate of about 3%. This year that number is 5.5%. While historically 5.5% is a low interest rate, it is quite a jump up from the record-breaking low rates we had last year. Jumbo rates have also moved up, but surprisingly at 4.625% the 30-year jumbo fixed rate is quite a bit lower than the conforming rate.
We hope this information is helpful to you. Please call if you have any questions about it or other real estate matters.
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