Tracy Cross & Associates, Inc.
2nd Quarter 2024
Production home builders in the Chicago metropolitan region recorded 2,873 sales during the first half of 2024, an increase of 8.0 percent compared to the 2,660 transactions registered during the same period in 2023.
Strong activity in the single family sector was responsible for the uptick as production homebuilders delivered 1,948 detached homes during the first six months of 2024, translating to a 20.8 percent increase over the 1,613 sales recorded a year ago. Conversely, the townhome/condominium sector witnessed a decline of 11.7 percent from 1,047 contracts written during the first half of 2023, to 925 in 2024.
While sales during the January-June 2024 period reflected modest gains over 2023, quarterly volumes were flat at 1,451 during 2nd Quarter 2024, compared with 1,454 during the same three months in 2023.
Meanwhile, the supply of production housing continued to shrink throughout the region with just 239 active developments marketing new product during the first half of the year, a 4.8 percent decrease from the previous low of 251 communities represented at the close of 2023. In fact, the decrease in townhome/condominium sales during the January-June 2024 period resulted from a significant drop in inventory. For perspective, during the first six months of 2024, area homebuilders introduced 25 new developments with 1,688 potential new units. This compares with 32 new projects (and a potential for 3,554 new housing units) during the same timeframe in 2023.
D.R. Horton led the market in sales during the first six months of 2024 with 624 transactions, followed by Lennar with 590 contracts. Rounding out the top five were Pulte/Del Webb and M/I Homes, each with 443, and Ryan with 237.