It was a tale of two markets in Evanston real estate last quarter.
The volume of detached single family home sales held essentially steady, while condo and townhouse sales plunged compared to the same period last year.
Sales of attached single family homes fell from 143 in the first quarter of 2007 to 58 last quarter, a decline of 59 percent, according to figures provided by the North Shore Barrington Association of Realtors.
But sales of detached single family homes declined just 1.7 percent, from 58 to 57 units.
The market for detached homes in Evanston was actually far healthier than in neighboring communities. On average in the 21 towns served by NSBAR single family detached home sales fell 24 percent.
Area-wide condo and townhouse sales were off 55 percent — nearly as big a drop as in Evanston.
The median selling price of houses in Evanston fell 1.4 percent to $537,500. Selling prices in most nearby communities dropped by larger margins, with Skokie down 15.2 percent and Wilmette down 23.9 percent, though Winnetka bucked the trend with an 8.9 percent increase.
The median selling price of condos and townhouses in Evanston fell 2.4 percent to $305,000. That was far less than the declines in many other communities. Skokie saw a 15.8 percent drop. Wilmette was down 19.1 percent. Glenview prices fell 28.6 percent. But condo prices rose 26.7 percent in Highland Park.
The time it takes to sell a home also rose last quarter compared to a year ago. For attached single family homes in Evanston the average time-on-market increased 33 percent to 215 days. For detached single family homes time-on-market increased 27 percent to 171 days.