The 18 detached, single-family homes sold in Darien during December was up big from December 2011, according to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe).

It is also up from last month, when 13 homes sold in Darien during November.

Darien saw the largest percent increase in DuPage County, with 125 percent more homes sold year over year in December. There were 18 homes sold that month in 2011 and 8 in 2012.

The median price of homes sold in December ($260,000) was down slightly from the median price of homes sold in November 2012, but stil up from that in December 2011. 

The market for detached, single-family homes in suburbs throughout DuPage County saw growth in December, MORe reported. MORe gets its statistics from Midwest Real Estate Data.

Elmhurst was the only town in DuPage that didn't see growth, with home sales remaining flat at 28 during December 2012 and 2011. 

Overall across the Chicago suburbs, sales of single-family detached homes rose 17.1 percent in December over the same month in 2011, according to MORe. 

MORe predicts January will be another month of local housing market growth, as the number of detached homes under contract in December 2012 was 58.3 percent higher than in December 2011. 

“We are cautiously optimistic for 2013, but that doesn’t mean people should wait to take advantage of this market,” said Tonya Corder, president of MORe and managing broker of Keller Williams Preferred Realty in Orland Park. “Interest rates will rise as the economy improves, making it more expensive to finance the purchase of a home.”

Source: Mainstreet Organization of Realtors

—Patch editor Lauren Williamson wrote this article