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Dismal Year for Illinois Home Sales
2008 was a crummy year for Illinois' residential real estate market.

Home sales in Illinois in 2008 totaled 107,680, down 23.3 percent from the 140,378 sales closed in 2007. The median price at the end of 2008 was $184,500, down 7.8 percent from the year before, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.

"The Illinois housing market was not immune to the effects of a poor economy," says Mary Schaefer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Association of Realtors, based in Springfield.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, sales were 21,382, down 22.2 percent from the 27,483 home sales in the fourth quarter of 2007. The median price for the fourth quarter fell from $190,000 in 2007 to $165,000 in 2008, a drop of 13.2 percent.

Schaefer says this is a buyer's market, with sellers who really want to sell pricing their properties low and negotiating down from there. She says with few homeowners hopping from one house to another, keeping the market lubricated, what's needed is first-time home-buyers. She hopes Congress comes through with a tax credit for them.

(Illinois Radio Network)
02 14 09 by Newsroom
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