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Illinois
Slow job growth in Illinois is dragging on the state’s housing market. Burned by a mortgage system that lent money to homeowners it regrets, the Illinois real estate market is wallowing in chaos. Home sales are down and prices are falling.
Even though Illinois didn’t see high-flying double digit appreciation in the national real estate boom, the state’s housing markets are chilled by the fallout from the mortgage mess. Housing sales are down drastically and there are fewer buyers in the market place. Some of the highest property taxes in the country also put Illinois in the unenviable position of having to suffer through the credit crunch.
The glut of inventory on the market has builders so concerned in Chicago that one new homebuilder is enticing prospective home buyers by offering to purchase their present home if they'll just buy a new home from his company. Another is offering incentives to buyers in the form of mortgage payments for more than two years. The credit crunch is hitting Illinois hard.
Concerned over economic uncertainty and the future of the local housing market, there are fewer and fewer home buyers looking in Chicago. The market appreciated strongly during the real estate boom, but nothing like more populous markets in California, Florida and other states that saw double digit appreciation for years.
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| City |
Forecast |
| Chicago |
− 8.3% |
| Peoria |
− 6.9% |
| Springfield |
− 6.6% |
| Bloomington |
− 6.0% |
| Decatur |
− 5.4% |
| Rockford |
− 4.9% |
An increasing series of issues has weakened the Chicago market, which Housing Predictor forecasts will slow further in 2008 with deflation of 8.3%.
Illinois is losing population as more and more people move to warmer southern climates. In central Illinois, Peoria has been hard hit as home prices tumble. Peoria is forecast to lose more residents this year and suffer increasing foreclosures on housing deflation of 6.9%.
Nearby Bloomington will also see fewer home sales and depreciation of 6.0%. A weak job market has attributed to the areas housing markets deterioration.
In the state’s capitol of Springfield the market appreciated for more than three years before the brakes hit. Springfield is just beginning to see foreclosures impact its market, which is forecast to deflate 6.6% by year’s end.
Home prices are still some of the least expensive in the state in Decatur, but increasing costs for heating coupled with higher taxes are taking their toll on the area. Decatur will see slower home sales translate to 5.4% deflation for the year.
The job market is hurting Rockford, which has seen many lay-offs as businesses take a bite out of its real estate market. Rockford will depreciate a forecast 4.9%.
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