The Illinois Association of Realtors just came out with their October sales numbers for Chicago and the rest of the region. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago home sales were down 40% (actually I estimated 41%) from last year. But what eluded me at the time was exactly how the IAR was going to positively spin such a massive drop. I knew they would find a way but could not imagine what it would be. Well, now we know:
Illinois Median Price in October Holds Steady from September
Home Sales Activity Up Year-to-Date
So what they not so cleverly did was focus on median prices, which I have pointed out on numerous occasions are totally meaningless, and year to date sales numbers, which were heavily impacted by that tax credit fiasco.
Damn those realtors are tricky!