Market Update: A Look Back at Chicago's Spring Market & How It Stacks Up to Last Year

The spring season leading into summer has traditionally been a busy time for the housing market nationwide. This year, however, the average number of sales actually dropped 0.2% from April to May.

But even despite the slight decline on a national scale, home sales in Chicago actually climbed 4.3% in early-to-late spring, according to the May National Housing Report from  RE/MAX LLC.

Across the country, lack of inventory has continued to be an issue facing most markets, and in many cases that can be directly linked to fewer people buying this spring season. The demand, as noted just about anywhere, has certainly been there. But supply has prevented some would-be buyers from successfully securing a new place to call home.

In Chicago, the number of months’ supply has also held somewhat steady based on current market conditions, although it’s still almost half of what inventory levels were at a year ago, and what most consider a healthy market.

As for home prices right now, the median sales price most recently settled at $320,000, or about 17% above the median price of $273,498 a year ago.