The average amount of time for a foreclosure or short sale property to be up for auction in the Chicagoland area is at only 97 days, according to statistics compiled by RE/MAX for July 2013. This is the first time the average home-sale time has dropped under 100 days since September 2006, which supports the encouraging statistics the Illinois Foreclosure Listing Service found for the annual trends. These new numbers are a reflection of higher demand from buyers and a relatively limited stock of available properties on the market. Since the number of new foreclosures for Cook and the surrounding counties increased by 17.59 percent last month, it may help more buyers find what they’re looking for.
However, properties may still be scarce on the ground. From August 12-16, more properties were snatched up by investors than the first week of August, with 93 properties sold as opposed to the 90 from the week before. Cook County, however, sold 8 less than it did the previous week. The difference was made up by the other counties, almost all of which saw an increase in properties sold to investors. For example, the often slow-moving Kane County had a 10 point change from last week’s 6 properties to this week’s 16!
The new RE/MAX statistics have just added fuel to the fire for the real estate foreclosure market. After months of continuously promising statistics, some buyer demand is starting to emerge in and around the city. Now is the time to start looking for fresh foreclosure and short sale properties since the upswing in buyer interest is likely to continue.