This is third article in a series about residential real estate on Chicago's North Shore. Watch for more communities in subsequent posts!
Evanston
The number of homes sold in Evanston declined by 9.7% in 2011 compared to 2010. For single family homes the decline was 7.5% while condo/townhome sales declined by 11.7%. This community is not keeping up with the sales activity in the state, the greater Chicago area, or even within the city of Chicago. In fact, Evanston had the worst performance on this measure among all of the communities that I analyzed. (Though Lake Forest was not far behind with a 9% decline in sales in 2011.)
- Similar to Deerfield, over 20% of the sales in 2011 were distressed properties. In Evanston the majority of the distressed sales were bank owned properties.
- Inventory for single family homes in Evanston is down to 7.4 months, which is very good. Inventory of condos and townhomes in Evanston is 14 months, which is not good at all.
- The number of bank-owned homes and homes in pre-foreclosure in Evanston dropped since last July. There were over 400 distressed properties according to public records, and now it is down to 340. These distressed properties represent 1% of total housing units (THU) in Evanston. For the North Shore as a whole, this is about 1.3%, so this is a positive sign for Evanston.
- The median price for a single family home in Evanston dropped by 2.3%, not bad compared to the state, the greater Chicago area, and the city of Chicago. However prices for condos and townhomes dropped by almost 15% in Evanston.
So, as in July when I did my last report, the city of Evanston is a tale of two cities. Sales and prices for single family homes are showing modest declines, while condos and townhomes are showing dramatic declines. Bottom line is that demand for condos and townhomes is still lagging. The one positive for the Evanston market is that the inventory of distressed properties, the “Shadow Inventory”, has improved.
For 2012 I think we will see the number of home sales increasing in Evanston, but prices will continue to decline, especially in the condo/townhome market.
More to come.
Thank you for reading! If you want to know what is going on in your local market and why, please contact me directly.
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