Is Chicago a sellers or buyers market in summer 2021?
/
If you have been following the national real estate news, you’ve probably seen dozens of headlines about record breaking seller’s markets, bidding wars and property values. The coverage makes it sound like all you have to do is list a home on a Friday and receive multiple offers by Sunday.
And while that is sometimes true in Chicago, it is also true that our city’s micro-market has a much more nuanced story to tell. Of course, some properties do go under contract here with multiple offers and appraisal wavers. But, that isn’t always the case. Today I am chiming it to outline what we are personally experiencing on a daily basis in the Chicagoland real estate market.
The three sellers’ markets in Chicagoland
There are three micro-markets within Chicagoland that are extremely competitive and therefore favor sellers:
Suburban single family homes: City dwellers are heading to the suburbs in record numbers in search of more space. Across the board in the north, west and south suburbs we see seller’s markets, multiple offer situations and lots of competition. Buyers should be prepared for steep competition.
Urban starter homes: Lower priced starter condos (especially in smaller buildings), and single family homes depending on the neighborhood are in high demand.
Urban single family homes: Demand is not quite as high for urban single family homes as suburban, but there is still a good amount of competition. Homes with good outdoor space in popular neighborhoods with desirable school districts see the most activity.
What that leaves is a lot of luxury, both condos and single family homes, sitting on the market. Sellers of these types of properties need to price competitively right out of the gate to generate interest. If a luxury property is priced as if in a seller’s market, my prediction is that it will sit.
Be aware of this emerging buyer trend
The big new trend we have seen emerge this year is that Chicagoland buyers are not nearly as divided as they once were between the city and suburbs. Before this year, a Chicagoland buyer was either exclusively looking in the suburbs or in the city, never both. This summer particularly, we are seeing buyers shop around to see where they can get the most updated space (both interior and exterior) for their dollar.
And for urban sellers, the bar for perfection is actually higher than it is for suburban sellers, meaning that the urban home needs to be as close to perfect as possible to win against a suburban home.
The other difference in these buyer’s behavior is whereas before they would typically exclusively look in Lincoln Park and Lakeview, they are now expanding their sights to include Avondale, Ravenswood, Irving Park and Sauganash in search of more space.
Buyer and seller takeaways
The big takeaway for sellers is that if you want to compete for the current batch of buyers, who will take the time to shop around to find the best of everything (deal, condition, location), there are three considerations: price, timing and condition. This may mean painting, updating, organizing or staging. Here’s a great article we wrote a bit ago outlining our best tips for preparing your home for the market.
For buyers, you should prepare yourself for differing amounts of competition depending on where and what you are looking for, and this competition should be reflected in your offer. Plus, many of these micro-markets change on a weekly basis, so staying informed is a full-time job (hopefully of your amazing real estate broker!).
