Illinois’ housing market is faring better than states in coastal regions of the U.S. One sign of that is the Illinois’ latest unemployment figures. The state gained more than 2,000 construction jobs between February and March.
States like California, Florida and Nevada are seeing massive waves of foreclosures. Times have been better in Illinois, too. J. Mark Harrison says new home construction is down, but there’s still work. Harrison is executive vice-president of the Home Builders Association of Illinois. He says many homeowners also are choosing the option of remodeling.HARRISON: Remodeling is a very viable entity out there. A lot of people that maybe have chosen not to move today have decided to remodel their home, and that’s an important segment of our marketplace out there.
Harrison says in parts of the state where new homes are in less demand, remodeling has picked up the slack. Overall, unemployment in Illinois stayed virtually the same from February to March, at 5.5 percent.