Home sales plummeted in 2 metro-east counties in November. Here’s a look at the market
The year 2022 will go down as a period when house hunters in the metro-east couldn’t catch a break. Home sale activity in St. Clair and Madison counties plunged 20% last month compared to November 2021.
That’s according to the November real estate market report from the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois. The report indicates market conditions in the metro-east are largely mirroring what’s happening nationwide.
“In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said in that organization’s own analysis.
So what’s to blame? Sky-high interest rates that are still twice what they were at the start of 2022, even if they’ve been dropping in the past few weeks.
As of Dec. 29, the current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.59%, according to Bankrate.com. That’s below the historic, 7% high the rate was at earlier in the year, but still twice the 3.22% it was during the first week of 2022, according to Freddie Mac.
“The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows,” Yun from the NAR said.
According to the NAR, November marked the tenth month in a row of declining sales for existing homes. Year-over-year home sales shrank by 35.4%, down from 6.33 million sales in November of 2021.
What’s the real estate market like in the metro-east?
The November report from the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois notes that compared to October of this year, home sales in St. Clair County plummeted by 7%, with a similar decline in Madison County.
Compared to November 2021, St. Clair County home sales fell by 23%, and in Madison County, by 20%.
Between, the first of the year through to Nov. 30, St. Clair County saw 3,345 homes sell, which marked a 12% decrease from the year-to-date total in November 2021. Madison County didn’t fare much better, with 3,474 total home sales, an 11% decrease.
Home prices in St. Clair and Madison counties were slightly down from where they stood in 2021, while prices remained elevated across the metro-east area as a whole.
St. Clair County home prices fell 2% from where they were in November 2021, with an average price totaling $187,641, according to the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois.
In Madison County, the average price for a home was $190,046, which represents a 1% drop in price year-over-year.
Home prices in Illinois were down 3%, with the realtors’ association putting median home prices at $243,000, compared to November of 2021.
But home prices for the metro-east as a whole were 5% higher than in November 2021. The average price of a home in the area this November stood at $170,000.
Homes sold faster in most metro-east counties in November; home sales in St. Clair County sold 9% faster than the same time last year. At the same time, homes sold 28% slower in Madison County.
The average amount of time a house stays on the market in the southwest Illinois area is 60 days, which is down from 62 in November 2021.
The full report can be read below: