Market Stats

When Do New Listings Come on the Market in Chicago’s North Shore?

July 16, 2021

During this past week, two different buyers shopping in the Wilmette housing market have asked how many new listings they should expect to come on the market before the fall. These buyers were concerned it might be slim pickings until next spring. While my gut had a ready answer, I wanted to pull the data to understand the true picture as we often get this question.

The attached chart represents new Wilmette real estate listings, by month, from July 2018 through June 2021. As you can see, Wilmette buyers have historically seen a strong release of new listings through August and, in most years, even an uptick of listings in the month of September.  While 2020 had some unusual patterns due to the pandemic, the late summer/early fall numbers stayed strong.  We expect similar strength in new listings for August and September of 2021.

You may wonder what drives the timing of new listings in the late summer/early fall. Certainly, most sellers “know” the spring market has the most buyers and they target a spring list, but not everyone can pull that off.  Some sellers need to do work and that work gets delayed. Others prefer to spend a final summer in their home before downsizing. Still others, waiting on new construction, find their builder or rehabber is behind schedule. These are just a few of the reasons homes still go on the market in the late summer/early fall..

As a buyer seeking to find a fabulous Wilmette home in 2021, there should still be new inventory coming on this August and September, with an added bonus of less competition (since many buyers will have already committed to a housing situation for the next school year).

With historic limited inventory, you likely want to see every new home as soon as possible. If you’d like to get every new listing from every brokerage, both MLS and PLN (Coming Soon – private listing network homes) as soon as they hit the MLS, as well as the listings we learn about through our various networks, please reach out so we can set you up on a real-time search and put our networks to work for you!

There has been a lot of talk about skittish buyers and drops in home sales in the Chicago area.  I was curious how that translated to the Winnetka market so analyzed the data and was surprised by what I found.

First, showing activity – the third quarter started out slower than 2017 but in the last few weeks, it has picked up and has pulled ahead of last year.  So buyers are out shopping and the pace is starting to pick up over last year.  That is good news.

Next, I looked at Under Contract activity.  After all, if buyers are looking but not buying – that doesn’t help the market at all. . . 

But under contract activity is up in Winnetka over 2017 levels, so buyers seem to be buying more Winnetka homes now that they did in the third quarter of last year.

Showings and under contract activity seem to be edging past 2017 levels but it makes sense to check one last metric – inventory levels.  And those have decreased in 2018 v. 2017 so there are fewer homes on the market.  The months supply of home has decreased from 6.6 months a year ago to 6.0 months.  In raw numbers, 158 detached homes were for sale in Winnetka on 10/31/17 and 141 are on the market one year later.  So with slightly less inventory and increased buyer showing activity, prices are pushing up.

And average prices have pushed higher in Winnetka which is great news for sellers.

In sum, the Winnetka market is strong!  It’s still a great time to buy and sell!

For sellers, make sure your home is prepped to sell and priced competitively to contend with increased competition. 

For buyers, even though interest rates are rising, they are still at historically low levels and with a strong economy, it’s still a great time to invest in your future by purchasing a home.

Whether buying or selling, I’m happy to help.  Please call me at 847-778-0540 or email me at Lisa@LisaFinks.com.

For details about my exclusive Strategic Seller Program, click here.

For details about the comprehensive services offered to buyers, click here.

There has been a lot of talk about skittish buyers and drops in home sales in the Chicago area.  I was curious how that translated to the Wilmette market so analyzed the data and was surprised by what I found.

First, showing activity – it is essentially even with last year and, in some weeks, up over 2017 numbers.  So buyers are out shopping in equal numbers to one year ago!  That is good news.

Next, I looked at Under Contract activity.  After all, if buyers are looking but not buying – that doesn’t help the market at all. . . 

But under contract activity is also about even with 2017, so buyers seem to be buying as many Wilmette homes now as they did in the third quarter of last year.

Since showings and under contract activity are just as strong in 2018 as in 2017, I wanted to check one last metric – inventory levels.  And those have risen in 2018 v. 2017 so there are more homes on the market.  The months supply of home has increased from 5.1 months a year ago to 6.1 months.  In raw numbers, 158 detached homes were for sale in Wilmette on 10/27/17 and 179 are on the market right now (10/27/18), one year later.  So with more inventory and stable showings/under contracts, it can feel like activity has slowed. . .

While a greater supply can lessen demand and push down price – there is more good news in that prices have held firm and have actually seen improvement in the last several months.

In sum, the Wilmette market is strong!  It’s still a great time to buy and sell!

For sellers, make sure your home is prepped to sell and priced competitively to contend with increased competition. 

For buyers, even though interest rates are rising, they are still at historically low levels and with a strong economy, it’s still a great time to invest in your future by purchasing a home.

Whether buying or selling, I’m happy to help.  Please call me at 847-778-0540 or email me at Lisa@LisaFinks.com.

For details about my exclusive Strategic Seller Program, click here.

For details about the comprehensive services offered to buyers, click here.

While the peak of the real estate market is generally the spring, fall often offers robust buyer activity as well – we call it the “September-October Bump”.  Below are a tally of the number of showings that occurred in various pricepoints from $300,000 to $2.5M for single family homes in Wilmette, Glenview and Chicago.

I suppose it comes as no surprise that the city would have highly concentrated activity in the entry level pricepoints, whereas Glenview and especially Wilmette, have a better distribution of activity across several different pricepoints.

It is important to note the final column in the lower chart which measures showings per listing as this takes into account the number of homes that are actually on the market in each pricepoint and gives you the truest picture of where the majority of activity lies.  For example, averages above 4 showings per listing indicate that it is a very popular pricing band. If you are in the market to buy, you should check out how competitive your price range will be to get an idea of how quickly you may need to move when you find that dream home!  For sellers, if you are between two pricepoints, you may want to opt for the pricepoint with more showings per listing as it will show the price band with the greatest demand.  Of course, if you need more details or data for another market area, please contact me, I’d be happy to run some numbers for you!

CHICAGO:

 

Glenview:

Wilmette: