It's hard to believe that another year is behind us. To close out 2022, this month, I'm sharing a housing market update, a December home maintenance checklist, some holiday Wheaton activities to do and a few seasonal refreshment recipes (move over eggnog!)

Is it a buyer's or seller's market?

Raise your hand if you have a case of whiplash when it comes to the real estate market these days? (Me, hand raised.)

Are you trying to sift all the info and figure out what’s REALLY going on in our market? I got you covered.

A BUYER’S MARKET is when there are more homes available than buyers looking.

A SELLER’S MARKET is when there are more buyers looking than homes available.

In general, it’s a seller’s market if inventory is adequate for 4 months (or less) worth of sales. If you have 5 to 6 months of inventory, you have a balanced market, and anytime you have more than 6 + months-worth of inventory, you’re in a buyer’s market.

So what does that mean for the Chicagoland area? Before I get into details, keep in mind that real estate is local. What you read and hear about the real estate market in the national news isn’t necessarily the case here in Illinois, let alone in Chicagoland… let alone in the town or neighborhood you live in. 

With that being said, here is a breakdown:

1. Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the MLS service that agents who serve Chicagoland use, but it’s broader than just Chicagoland. It serves 50,000 real estate professionals in northern IL, southern Wisconsin, and northwest Indiana. Here is a map of coverage just in Illinois:

So when you see MRED market data published, it’s this area ^. Very broad.

I belong to the largest realtor board in the list above, Mainstreet Organization of Realtors, which primarily serves 20,000 agents in the Chicago suburban counties of DuPage, Lake, and western & southern suburban Cook county.  Because I primarily serve DuPage County, here is a breakdown of market data for just DuPage County:

Breaking it down even further, here is market data for Wheaton, Illinois:

Based on the data, both DuPage County and Wheaton are still seeing very low inventory levels at less than 2 months of supply, which is still a very strong seller’s market.  Volume of closed sales is also down; however, median prices are up.  This is information that is different from what you might be hearing on the national news. 

Our Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago CEO, Diane Glass, spoke with Judy Hsu at NBC Chicago News last week about what is happening with the Real Estate Market in Chicagoland.  Here is what she had to say:

Read this article for more 2023 outlook information.

 Key Takeaways:

• We’ve just experienced two of the busiest real estate years that most of us can remember. That sets the bar really high, and it makes the slowdown in the second half of this year feel more dramatic. When we look back a few more years, 2022 brought us closer to the number of home sales in 2019 which was a relatively normal, pre-pandemic market. 

• Even with buyers and sellers sitting on the sidelines, we aren’t seeing a big change in prices. Prices in the Chicago market overall are holding steady.

• The National Association of Realtors outlook for 2023 is that home sales will be down 7% over this year, and that prices will stay about the same. 

• For 2024, they are predicting a healthy rebound with 10% increase in home sales and a 5% increase in prices.

What's happening in Wheaton this month?

Thanks for checking out my blog! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and if you have any questions about any of this info or about buying or selling a property you know how to find me.