DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – The average sale price for single-family detached homes jumped by 4.5 percent in January, the first increase since December 2007, according to statistics released today by the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe).

MORe measured activity on homes in about 120 southern and western suburban communities through information from Midwest Real Estate Data LLC. January detached home sales for the same communities also were up by 30 percent from a year ago, indicating the eighth consecutive monthly increase.

“We’re starting to see a loss of inventory due to short sales and foreclosures and this in turn is driving up home prices,” said Mike Drews, President of MORe, and the Designated REALTOR® of Charles Doss, REALTORS®, in the Aurora and Oswego areas. “This is the first piece of good news from the sales price perspective and is an indicator that we’ve hit bottom on the decrease in sales prices.”

Many communities in Cook and DuPage counties showed impressive gains in average home sale price, including Burr Ridge (152 percent increase from January 2009); Elmhurst (70 percent); Hinsdale (109 percent); LaGrange Park (99 percent); Naperville (16 percent); Palos Hills (100 percent); and Westchester (42 percent).

“In some of these communities we’re seeing significant increases in upper-end price ranges and this is most likely due to the $6,500 federal tax credit available to move-up buyers,” Drews said.

There also were notable detached home sales gains across the 120-community area, where the numbers of homes sold leaped by double- and triple-digit percentages. The strongest increases were seen in Bridgeview (600 percent increase from January 2009); Downers Grove (91 percent); Elmwood Park (200 percent); Matteson (157 percent); Oak Lawn (286 percent); and South Holland (89 percent).

For nearly a century, MORe has been dedicated to anticipating and serving the needs of more than 11,500 REALTORS®, affiliates and licensed appraisers in South and West Suburban Chicagoland. MORe is the second largest REALTOR® member organization in Illinois, and the seventh largest in the nation. To learn what a REALTOR® can do for you, visit www.succeedwithmore.com.