Single-family homes are a little less interesting and predictable than condos from a numbers perspective. This is due mainly to the fact they don't exist in large closing numbers. The turnaround time for families in a single-family home is longer. And they take up more overall space. This leads to fewer transactions on a yearly basis.
Regardless, it's nice to look at the data and spot some trends. You'll notice I pulled out some of the neighborhoods that aren't really "single family" neighborhoods. South Loop, Near North, and West Loop are missing on purpose. Uptown really should have been pulled as well.
First, the sales numbers...
The only notable thing I can spot is the Irving Park numbers having gone up 18% in 2009. What you can't see is that 46 of those 139 were short-sales, foreclosures or court-approved sales. So while the transactions were up 18% from the year before, if you take out the distressed properties, it was actually down 21%. More on distressed properties next week...
Prices get even weirder in the numbers (especially without digging into the number of bedrooms). From cutting data obsessively for the past 18 months in all the northside neighborhoods, I can say (with confidence) that if you bought a home in 2005, it's worth less today than it was then. The numbers in every neighborhood here reflect it. And hey - Uptownites - don't read too much into your neighborhood's "positive" numbers - 21 total sales is too small a sample to get an accurate read.
Meanwhile, my favorite head shaker is Lincoln Park. No matter how I cut the data, how far I go back, how many bedrooms I use - LINCOLN PARK single family homes will not quit! The Lincoln Park SFH market just keeps going in the right direction.
Post comments if you have them. Meanwhile, there's more to come this week and next.
