Chicago Sun-Times: Home is where the hurt is in today's housing market

[marmar]

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES [e-mail]


Stuck -- that's how Yvonne Smith felt as she tried unsuccessfully for more than two years to sell her Evanston home.

She recently agreed to an offer that's roughly 37 percent below her initial asking price, joining many other sellers who've had to revamp their expectations in what remains an ailing housing market here.

A report from the Illinois Association of Realtors on Tuesday showed the end of federal tax credits and a continuing weak economy pushed home sales in the Chicago metropolitan area down 25.1 percent in July from a year earlier. And major market improvements aren't forecast soon.

The median price sank 9.6 percent to $193,000 from $213,500, the report showed.

In Chicago, sales fell 19.5 percent to 1,589, and the median price plummeted 19.8 percent to $196,500.

That's no surprise to Smith, who put her home on the market in June 2008 because she wanted to downsize after the last of her children moved out. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.suntimes.com/business/2634498,CST-NWS-Homes25.article

[Quantess]

1. True all over the country, and not just in Chicago.

[customerserviceguy]

2. In any housing bust

the markets that inflated the most, are the ones that deflate the worst, when the emperor is shown to be wearing no clothes.

[Skittles]

3. they need to tank more to their actual worth