Realtors Optimistic About 2012 Housing Market

2011 "ended with a roar" and realtors are looking to positive momentum in the home market in 2012, according to press releases from multiple realtor groups. 

Home sales were up 19 percent in the Chicago area and up 14 percent in the state of Illinois, according to Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS and the Illinois Association of REALTORS, respectively.

In Naperville, transactions were up 19.5 percent in December, "the most significant increase in months," said Jack Persin, co-president of MORe and president and managing broker of Ryan Hill Realty in Naperville. "Prices decreased less than 5 percent, and the absorption rate and market times are falling.”

Home sales in Woodridge were up 10 percent from Dec. 2010.

Moody's Analytics predicts home across will rise 12 percent in 2012 and new home sales will rise 74 percent, according to the RE-MAX press release. 

In Dec. 2011, 8,828 homes sold statewide in December of last year. That's up 14 percent from the same month one year earlier, according to the Illinois Association of REALTORS. 

“You can feel the vibrations in the ground,” said Tom Krettler, MORe co-president and broker associate at RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest in Palatine. “The market is moving. There are good deals out there – really good deals – that are motivating buyers.”