In its October 2007 issue, Chicago charts home sales in 77 city neighborhoods and 204 suburbs over a 12-month period beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007. Among other things, the charts, using data provided by the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, reveal a widespread increase in the time it took to sell a home: in nearly 90 percent of the neighborhoods and suburbs, it took longer this year to sell a house or condo than it did the year before.

The charts in the magazine show only a neighborhood or suburb’s average sales time; they do not include year-to-year comparisons. But Deal Estate did calculate those changes—and they aren’t pretty. (We are analyzing market time this week; the Wednesday Housing Bulletins over the next few weeks will examine other aspects of the charts.) Hardest hit were the ten suburbs listed below, where market time more than doubled. But for most sellers, the slowdown wasn’t quite as jarring. The majority of locations in the city and the suburbs saw slowdowns of 30 to 50 percent—meaning houses sat on the market that much longer this year than last.

Some places fared better than others; in five city neighborhoods—North Center, Edgewater, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, and Morgan Park—market time was extended by less than 20 percent this year from the year before. Some places managed to beat the slowdown: condos and townhouses in 15 city neighborhoods sold faster this year than last; in one hotbed of condo activity—the Loop—sales were 25 percent faster this year than last. And detached houses, or single-family homes, sold faster this year in six city neighborhoods—Uptown, Albany Park, Bridgeport, Kenwood, Lake View, and the Near North Side—and in 13 suburbs.

Here are the ten places where the slowdown in market time was sharpest in each of three categories of sales: suburban houses, detached housing in the city, and attached housing (condos and townhouses) in the city. These figures are percentages; anything over 100 percent means the market time in that location more than doubled. (We include in our calculations only those towns and suburbs with more than ten sales for the 12-month period covered by the charts; in places with fewer sales, each individual home sale exerts too much pull on the overall figure to provide reliable comparisons.)