I know I’m sounding like a broken record but everyone who is looking to buy a home right now – or even an investment property – in the Chicago area is totally frustrated these days by the lack of inventory. We just updated our October inventory numbers for 2 -3 bedroom condos in Chicago and the shelves are empty – record empty – especially for this time of year. Check out the graph below.
To put this in perspective…normally at this time of the year the contract activity falls by more than the available inventory so the result is an increase in months of supply. And recently of course the Chicago real estate market has been pretty bad. October of 2011 had a 15.3 months supply of 2 – 3 bedroom condos. In 2010 it was 23.9 months; in 2009 it was 15.9 months, and you can basically see from the graph that it has usually been a lot higher than it is right now. Because right now it is a measly 4.6 months of supply. That’s because the absolute level of inventory is down a whopping 40% from a year ago while contract activity is up about 40%.
It’s the best time to sell a home in ages.
