The Chicago Tribune has this report on home sales. "Apparently unfazed by reports of the imminent demise of the housing market, Illinois consumers bought homes in record numbers last month. Chicago-area sales, however, were generally flat. Rising inventories of unsold homes, the nation has 39 percent more properties on the market today than a year ago, coupled with the rising costs of oil and home mortgages might tell a different story as the spring home-selling season plays out."

"In Chicago alone the number of single-family homes on the market jumped to 6,040 as of Tuesday from 4,220 on March 31, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois."

"'Inventory definitely has grown way too much,' said North Side agent Jay Michael. 'A lot of people bought on speculation or they bought just for the sake of buying something, and now they're selling,' often asking unrealistically high amounts."

"'Thirty percent of that market are people who don't need to sell; they just want to see if they're going to find, well, a sucker,' he said."

"On Tuesday Michael was showing North Side condos to Karen Cole of Glenview, who was on the first day of her house hunt. 'She's looking in a saturated price range, $750,000 to $999,000. There is so much in that price range right now,' he said."

"Cole said she hoped the inventory would work in her favor. 'I'm hoping that because there are a lot of condos available, the prices won't be astronomical,' said the North Side schoolteacher, who on Tuesday was scheduled to walk through 10 of the 14,232 condominiums on the market in the city. Of those, 3,206 have been listed for sale since March 31."

"Glenview agent Georgia Pierini said buyers seem to realize that the market has shifted to their favor, but they are influenced by mortgage rates. 'There's a little bit of wonder and fear that interest rates are going to continue to rise and buyers had better get in and do something before it gets worse,' she said. 'But I can see that prices are starting to stabilize and not be so outrageous. We're having more price changes now because some houses started out too high.'"