According to a new report, 1,247 newly built homes were sold in the Chicago area during the first three months of 2017, a 20 percent increase from the first quarter last year.
Crain’s Chicago reports that while the rate is the highest it’s been in four years, new home sales are still lagging behind where they once were. In every quarter from 1994 through the second quarter of 2007, new-home sales totalled at least 4,000, with a peak of 9,423 in Q2 2005.
“One of the main things continuing to hold new homes back is that existing-home prices are so low," Erik Doersching, executive vice president at Tracy Cross, said. The slow recovery of Chicago-area home values has meant price-conscious buyers could find what they wanted in a resale home before turning to the new-construction market.
Nationally, new-home sales were up 11.9 percent on an annual basis in the first quarter.
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