CHICAGO - Like holiday shoppers in search of a good bargain, first-time home buyers were out in force last month, scooping up homes to grab a federal tax credit that was to have expired Nov. 30.

As a result, sales of existing single-family homes and condos in October were extraordinary, rising 33.3 percent from the same month last year, to 7,286 homes sold in the Chicago area. And they got those homes at a deal -- the median price in the Chicago area last month was $190,000, down 15.6 percent from October 2008's $225,000, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Monday.

It was the best October for sales since 2006, when monthly sales topped 9,000 homes in the Chicago area, and gives credence to the theory that the $8,000 first-time homebuyer's tax credit nudged consumers off the fence and into a home purchase. Still, the pace did not top that of July, when sales totaled 7,427 homes sold.

Earliier this month, the government extended the tax credit until next spring and made a portion of it available to current homeowners who want to buy a new principal residence. It's unclear whether October's performance borrowed sales from the future. It's also uncertain how much the credit can counteract rising joblessness.

Last week, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Illinois' unemplolyment rate in October jumped to 11 percent, its highest level since August 1983.

"I'm very cautious about extrapolating on one month," said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. "A lot of things came together to make it a good month."

That list of factors contributing to the buyer's market included a large inventory of homes to choose from, low prices, favorable mortgage interest rates and the tax credit -- all factors which largely still exist.

Within Chicago, sales of existing single-family homes and condos rose 28.5 percent last month, to 2,012 sales compared to 1,566 homes sold in October 2008. The median price in the city was $215,000, 18 percent less than the same month a year ago.

Sales of Chicago condos jumped 29 percent, to 1,193 units sold during the month. The median price of $263,000 was 16.8 percent less than a year ago.

"There was this great flurry of activity in October where folks said, 'I want to get in on this,' " said Mabel Guzman, president-elect of the Chicago Association of Realtors. "First-time homebuyers created this great rally."

Guzman, a real estate agent at Century 21 S.G.R., Inc., said she continues to see potential buyers, including current homeowners, enter the market. " Now you're going to see some folks say I can get out of this one- bedroom and into a two-bedroom," she said.

Hewing predicts median home prices will continue to decrease within the city for the next three months. "You've got an excessive supply of foreclosed properties (in Chicago) and that's dragging down prices," he said.

Among the Chicago-area counties reporting sizable year-over-year sales gains during the month were Cook, up 31.1 percent; DuPage, up 34.9 percent; Kane, up 34.8 percent; Kendall, up 51.0 percent; and Will, up 57.4 percent.

The monthly average commitment rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the North Central region was 5 percent in October 2009, compared with 6.25 percent last year, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

Statewide, the real estate trade group said home sales rose 24.2 percent, to 10,986 homes sold last month, at a median price of $157,000. That compares to 8,846 homes sold in October 2008 at a median price of $170,000.

Nationally, existing home sales rose 23.5 percent in October, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.10 million units, the highest sales activity since February 2007, the National Association of Realtors reported. Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said November may show similarly robust sales but after that spike, a "measurable decline" is likely in December and in early 2010. Distressed properties -- foreclosures and short sales -- accounted for 30 percent of sales activity last month, the trade group said.

The supply of homes nationally is at its lowest level in 2 1/2 years.

Mary Ellen Podmolik Tribune staff reporter.