C-U Unemployment and Home Sales Data

The News-Gazette had the most recent data in articles over the past couple weeks. First on home sales:

55 more homes sold in 2018 over 2017 in Champaign County; average price holds steady
Fifty-five more homes were sold in 2018 than the year before in Champaign County, with a total of 2,938 sold, according to a year-end report from the local Realtors group.

And sale prices remained level, with the 2018 average at $174,453, virtually the same as the 2017 average of $174,570.

"2017 and 2018 both seemed to be good years. Good for buyers and good for sellers," said Eric Porter, president of the Champaign County Association of Realtors. "There weren't a lot of dramatic turns either way. And I was very pleased that the average sale price remained at around that $174,000."

Porter said that means homes are keeping their value, instead of falling as they were during the housing crisis.

More at the full article here, with  more information on why Porter isn't expecting any downturn in 2019. Nationally, the 2019 outlook was looking less optimistic after a weaker 2018 and much lower December with the shutdown. Those numbers here.

Employment numbers from today's News-Gazette:

Unemployment rate up in C-U, Danville in December over 2017
The local unemployment rate increased a bit in December compared with the same month in 2017, from 3.7 to 4.4 percent in the Champaign-Urbana metro area.

All of the 13 metro areas in Illinois saw an increase except the Chicago area, which saw a decrease from 4.9 to 3.6 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate dropped from 4.7 a year ago to 4.4 percent in December.

More at the full blurb here. The Illinois State numbers are 0.1% higher than an earlier blurb, so I don't know if that's simply a more recent adjustment from the same source (Illinois Department of Employment Security). Reports on jobless aid applications for federal workers increasing due to the federal government shutdown last week here were matched with overall lower jobless aid applications on the whole here.