Chicago home prices are climbing at twice the pace of inflation, according to newly reported data. Separately, a Rutherford Avenue home sold in September for $389,900, offering a real-world example of a single transaction in the market.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Chicago home prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation.
Separate data from Redfin backs up the trend. Chicago home prices rose 1% month over month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis and climbed 10.3% year over year, per a release distributed on PR Newswire. That local pace dwarfs the national trend; U.S. home prices increased just 0.25% month over month in September, up slightly from 0.21% in August, the same report notes.
A Market That's Been Heating Up for Months
September's numbers aren't an isolated blip. Chicago home prices notched their biggest jump in more than five years earlier this year, the same Crain's Chicago Business report series found, pointing to sustained upward pressure on the city's housing stock rather than a one-month anomaly. That earlier reporting also highlighted a Lincoln Square house that sold in July for nearly 18% over its asking price, a sign of just how aggressively some buyers have been bidding in competitive pockets of the city. That Lincoln Square home was listed by @properties Christie's International Real Estate, according to the same source.
The Redfin figures are calculated using the company's Home Price Index, which applies a repeat-sales pricing method to measure seasonally adjusted changes in single-family home values. The September data set covers the three months ending September 30, giving the index a rolling, quarter-like view of price movement rather than a single snapshot.
Where Buyers and Agents Can Dig Deeper
For anyone trying to make sense of how their own neighborhood stacks up, the Chicago Association of REALTORS® publishes quarterly and yearly statistics covering median sales price, average sales price, market time, and units sold across the city's 77 neighborhoods and 293 suburbs, according to the Chicago Association of REALTORS®. The association's City of Chicago Market Snapshot specifically tracks residential activity within the city's 77 officially defined community areas.
Longer-term price trends are also tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, whose FRED database hosts a seasonally adjusted monthly high-tier home price index for Chicago, built on the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller methodology and indexed so that January 2000 equals 100, according to FRED. Together, the local and national data paint a picture of a Chicago market where even a modest, decades-old Northwest Side home can sell for a price that tracks almost perfectly with the citywide median, while overall appreciation continues to outstrip the broader cost of living.
