Nancy Karp

The good news is that the trend I noted for both Highland Park and Northbrook is also true for Deerfield. That is, sales in the past three months appear to be stronger than the prior three months.

Here is how it breaks down...

During the past 6 months 45 homes sold for under $1.2 million in Deerfield. Seventy five percent of those sales (34) were in the past 3 months - so there is a good trend here. With 162 homes currently on the market for under $1.2 million, this means it could take over 14 months for all of these homes to sell (162 divided by the 3-month sales rate of 11.3 homes per month (34/3 = 7.5)). For Highland Park inventory for homes in this price range is around 10 months, and it is even lower in Northbrook. So if the sales rates stay the same, it could take longer for Deerfield to "recover" from the high inventory levels that we are seeing. Over 80% of Deerfield homes currently for sale fall into this price range.

There were a total of 9 luxury homes sold (priced over $1.2 million) in Deerfield in the past 6 months; 5 of those sold in the past 3 months. So the three-month sales rate is 1.5 homes per month. With 43 homes on the market in this price range, there is over 28.5 months of inventory. Highland Park and Northbrook inventory levels are higher with over 30 months of inventory for luxury homes in both areas.

Please keep in mind that all of this "analysis" that I am providing assumes that the sales rates stay the same as they have been for the past three months. We can see from looking at the full 6-month period, that the sales rates are not static. This is just a snapshot in time, and it provides a way to compare what has been going on in each of these suburbs on the north shore. It is not particularly a prediction of what is going to happen.

I hope that you find this info useful. I will continue to look at more of the suburbs on the North Shore as time permits. I'd plan to take a look at the condo stats as well. I am actually working with several buyers right now, and my time with clients (buyers and sellers) takes priority over blogging!!

Thanks for reading!! Your comments, questions, requests are welcome.

Overall sales activity in Northbrook was similar to Highland Park over the past 6 months. Sales activity picked up during the past three months. As in Highland Park the less expensive homes had a stronger showing, with 80 out of 87 sales in the past three month priced at less than $1,200,000 (about 92% of the sales). Seventy percent of the sales in the past three month were under $700,000.

Assuming that the sales rate for the past six months remains that same (I hope not!) there is almost 17 months of inventory in Northbrook right now (316 homes on the market, with 18.7 selling each month, on average). If I use the 3-month sales rate, the inventory level is a little better, with just under 12 months of inventory (316 homes available with 29 selling each month).

Breaking it down by price range and using the 3-month (more optimistic) sales rate, here are the details:

Northbrook homes priced less than $600,000 have 6-7 months of inventory.

Northbrook homes between $600,000 and $1,200,000 have almost 9 months of inventory.

Luxury homes (priced over $1,200,000) have over 32 months of inventory!

Please give me a call if you want more information or if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading.

nsk

Home below is for sale in Glenview/Northbrook development called Willows West. Needs some work. Contact me for details.

In spite of the rain, the Earth Day Festival in Highland Park was well attended. Since the crowds were less then anticipated, they didn't need my assistance as a volunteer. I took advantage of the time (no appointments with clients, no family commitments) to check out the festival myself.

I learned about a new line of paints from Benjamin Moore - they are eco friendly, hypo allergenic, and they also cover better than the regular paints.

I learned about a new solar energy program that will be coming the the North Shore (eventually - timing tbd). The deal is that this company determines what type/size solar panel you need, and then they install it on your roof. You pay monthly to rent it out. Your electricity then comes primarily from the solar panel, and if you need any additional energy, you still get it from ComEd. You don't have to switch it back and forth, it all works together seamlessly - at least that is what they told me.

A local business that provides theraputic massages services is also selling eco-friendly cleaning supplies. They started out using the products for their shop, and now that they've moved into larger quarters they decided to start selling the products themselves.

Kudos to the planners of this fist-time event. I think it was a success!

A simple analysis of MLS data shows that sales have picked up in Highland Park over the past three months versus the prior three months. There were 121 single family homes that sold (Attorney Review/Inspection, Pending, or closed) during the past 6 months; 73 of those sales (over 60%) were from the past 3 months, or 24.3 homes per month.

There are currently 360 single family homes for sale in Highland Park, as of close of business today. So, on average that translates into between 14 and 15 months of inventory, if the sales rate for the past three months stays the same (360 divided by 24.3).

If you look at this by price range, the picture is quite different. For luxury homes (over $1.2 million) only 12 homes sold in the past three month, or 4 per month. With 123 of these homes currently for sale, that translates into over 30 months of inventory! (123 divided by 4).

For the less expensive homes, the sales rate is slightly over 20 homes per month, which tranlsates into about 10.7 months of inventory.

All of these numbers are better than they were a few months ago - so the overall trend is where we want it to be, heading up.

Thanks for reading.

nsk