Study: Real Estate Bouncing Back Faster in Metra-Served Communities

A new study now shows that home sales in communities located along Metra lines, including Downers Grove, are bouncing back faster than other communities in the Chicago area.

RE/MAX Northern Illinois commissioned a study, the fourth year it has done so, which looked at real estate sales in communities located along the train line versus communities in the seven-county metro area.    

“The analysis revealed that the Metra-served communities had a greater rebound in sales activity than the suburbs as a whole in 2012 and have seen sales decline less than the suburbs as a whole when compared to 2006,” a news release from RE/MAX said. “The entire suburban area slightly outperformed the Metra towns in two other measures: average sales price and average market time.”

The study compared home sales information from three towns along each of the 11 Metra corridors, compared with sales throughout the metro area.

Total sales for the Metra-served towns included in the 2012 study were 5,121 units, a 27 percent increase over the same period in 2011, according to the study. Sales in the suburbs totaled 29,817, a gain of 24 percent. Metra-served towns had 27.4 percent fewer sales in 2012 than in 2006. Suburban sales were 31 percent lower than in 2006.

The top all-around results in the study were along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line, according to the survey. Along the BNSF train line sales volume rose 29.4 percent, the average home price increased 14 percent to $311,709 and the average market time fell by 30 days. Results also were good in the North Central Service area where volume was up 25 percent, the average price rose 3 percent to $147,760 and the average market time rose by 13 days.

In the middle-distant communities, which include Downers Grove, transaction volume rose 18 percent, according to the analysis. The average price fell 9 percent to $313,220, and the average market time declined from 198 to 186 days.

The analysis also looked at the Metra-served towns based on their relative distance from downtown Chicago. This year, it was the communities closest to downtown Chicago that had the strongest results, just as they did in 2010. Those communities included Evanston, Park Ridge, Morton Grove, Franklin Park, River Forest, Riverside, Summit, Oak Lawn, Blue Island and Harvey. 

A year ago, the middle-distant communities, including Palatine, Winnetka, Deerfield, Prospect Heights, Roselle, Glen Ellyn, Western Springs, Lemont, Palos Heights, Oak Forest and Flossmoor, were the results leaders.

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