Chicago Sellers Lick Their Chops While Buyers Face Disaster

Chicagoland sellers that are actually able to sell and have a new place to live (out of state?) are cashing in on our record market. Meanwhile buyers are facing lack of options, interest rates towards 7%, huge property tax hikes and record home prices.

HERE’S A LOOK AT WHAT’S UP IN AUGUST 2026.

Inventory goes from low to lower

The number of homes on the market in June was down steeply from a year ago in both Chicago and the nine-county metro area, according to data released by Illinois Realtors. In the city, there were 71% as many homes available to buy in June than a year earlier, and metro-wide, there were 86% as many.

How does that compare to the pre-Covid balanced market? City buyers in June had just under 35% as many homes to select from as they did at the same time in June 2019. For the entire Chicago area, buyers last month had about 33% of the options they had in 2019.

The available inventory is significantly below where it was this time last year, when buyers had about 50% of the selection they would have had in the summer of 2019. The figures may not compare directly, because the increased popularity of private listings means some of today’s homes available for sale might not be getting counted.

Bad news for buyers hoping that over time the lock-in effect of 3% rates for current owners would loosen up. Homeowners staring down inflation and higher rates and huge home prices are simply refusing to move. The result is very slim pickings for aspiring buyers, whether they’re first-time or move-up buyers.

Sales Prices Break Records

The median price of homes sold in Chicago in June was $427,500, the highest monthly median price on record. The metro-area median price was $407,000, also a record and the first time it has been above $400,000.

Nationwide, the median price of homes sold in June was $440,600. Like the others, it was the highest on record. The Illinois Realtors data uses the U.S. Census Bureau definition of the Chicago metro area, which comprises Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

Chicago #1 in Home Appreciation in the USA

The metro-area median home price in June was up 4.6% from the same time a year ago, according to the Illinois Realtors data, and in Chicago the increase was 6.9%.

A second measure of home price growth is the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices, whose report out today shows that in May, Chicago-area home prices were up 6.93%.

That is significantly higher than any of the other 18 major metros covered by the index. Next-highest, New York, saw prices rise 4.23% in May, a full 2.7 percentage points less than Chicago.

Chicago’s increase was the largest recorded by the index since June 2024, when prices here were up 7%.
Nationwide, home prices rose 1.11% in May, according to the index.