Chicago Real Estate Blog

Which Chicago Neighborhoods Are Weathering the Real Estate Downturn the Best?

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. The patchwork of communities not only offers residents a diverse and unique cultural scope, but also presents a varying housing market that differs from block to block. So which Chicago neighborhoods have seen positive changes during this nationwide residential real estate slump? New statistics supplied by the Chicago Association of Realtors break down the sales numbers of the official 77 communities within the city limits to reveal how each area did in 2007.

Analysts measured the median sale price changes for attached housing units (condos) and single-family homes in Chicago to find out whether there was a rise, decline or no change between 2006 and 2007. Median sale price increases where scattered all over the city for both condos and single-family houses, however, in general condos saw more price improvements than private residences. The biggest appreciations were in the Loop, Monteclare and Kenwood for condos and West Ridge, the Near West Side and Albany Park for detached homes.

In the Loop, median condo sale prices experienced a 42% boost in 2007 to $397,250, Monteclare condo sale prices went up by 30% to $235,000, and Kenwood rose 24% to $279,900. Although most Chicago neighborhoods saw condo price increases, there are several areas with large drops in median sale price, including McKinley Park, which slid 30% from last year, and Humboldt Park, which fell 24% from 2006.

For single-family homes, the neighborhoods with the highest median sale price jumps were located mainly in the northern and western regions of the city. The Near West Side, for example, had a 32% increase in 2007 to a median sale price of $450,000 and West Ridge showed a 53% rise to $635,000. Chicago neighborhoods with the worst sale price depreciation for detached homes were Austin, which experienced a 46% drop since 2006, and West Englewood that had a 30% decrease in one year.

Posted at 03:16PM Apr 08, 2008 by Spencer Mason in General  |  Comments[0]