Home sales down from last year
Sales of existing homes in the Southland plunged last month and were down throughout the Chicago area.
Nationally, sales dipped 0.2 percent in July, with the decrease blamed on “temporary mortgage disruptions.”
For the entire Chicago area, there were 9,725 existing single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums sold in July, down from 11,173 in July 2006, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported.
Yes, this is a nationwide problem. Is it a temporary mortgage disruption? I think people are praying that it is anything close to temporary but mortgage defaults and an ensuing foreclosures should continue for the foreseeable future as adjustable-rate mortgages from a few years ago continue to unwind. This is not good news for the Chicago real estate market but Southland will be affected particularly hard. This could cause some of the real estate bubbles more north in Chicago to pop.
[via Chicago Daily Southtown]
