Tracy Cross & Associates, Inc.
4th Quarter 2023
Tracy Cross & Associates, Inc.Builders in the Chicago metropolitan region sold over 5,000 new homes in 2023 for just the second time in the last 15 years. With 5,046 net contracts written during the most recent 12-month period, sales were up 16.3 percent compared to the 4,338 units sold in 2022 and just slightly below volumes posted in 2021 (during the height of the post-pandemic surge).
Sales were especially strong in the suburbs led by the single family sector with 3,135 transactions in 2023, up nearly 24 percent compared to 2022’s volume of 2,533 units. Among multi-family product lines in suburban Chicago, the year culminated with 1,659 total sales, an increase of 11.9 percent when cast against the 1,482 units contracted in 2022.
Meanwhile, the city of Chicago did not follow the same trajectory as sales continued their downward trend with 252 contracts recorded in 2023, a 22 percent drop from the 323 sales posted in 2022, and down almost 50 percent compared to the 468 units sold in 2021.
Despite elevated interest rates, homebuilders steadily increased prices in 2023. For example, the average base price of a new single family home in the suburbs crossed the $450,000 mark during the 4th Quarter 2023, an increase of nearly 10 percent year-over-year. In the multi-family sector, the average price of a new construction townhome, duplex and/or condominium offering in suburban Chicago came in slightly over $400,000 during the quarter, up some 20 percent from the same time period last year when the mid-$300,000s was more the norm.
Lennar led all homebuilders in 2023 with 1,146 contracts, followed by D.R. Horton and Pulte Homes at 1,012 and 826 homes sales respectively. Rounding out the top five were M/I Homes with 616 transactions and Ryan Homes with 394 sales.