Chicago North Side Market Report: First Quarter Home Sales

Data?Suggests More Stable Housing Environment Could Be in the Offing

Thanks to a mild winter, Chicago’s North Side housing market got off to an early start this year, with the market showing increased stability through the first quarter of 2024.

North Side home sales totaled 1,589 units for the first quarter, down -5.6% from the same period last year. That contrasts sharply with the results of one year ago when first quarter sales fell -32.5% from the comparable period in 2022.

The first-quarter median home price for the North Side registered a modest increase largely in line with the overall rate of inflation, gaining 3.9% to $395,000.? As for how quickly homes are selling, the average time it took for a home sold during the quarter to go under contract was 84 days, 10 days fewer than in the first quarter of last year. ?

My Chicago North Side Market Report tracks sales of single-family and attached homes in the community areas of Edgewater, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Near North Side, North Center, Rogers Park, Uptown and West Ridge.

The steep year-over-year declines in sales volume we were seeing in the 18 months prior to the start of 2024 appear to have abated, but the market is still hampered by inventory levels that are near historic lows. It remains a challenging market for buyers, particularly first-time buyers struggling to save an adequate down payment.

The inventory shortage puts upward pressure on prices, and that has been most noticeable in the market for single-family homes where the first-quarter median sales price on the North Side this year was 31.1% higher than it was in 2020. For attached homes, on the other hand, the increase in median price across that same four-year period was only 8.1%.

At the same time we saw substantial first-quarter increases in the median prices of both attached and detached homes in Rogers Park, Uptown and West Ridge, which suggests to me that the more moderately priced homes in those communities are attracting greater interest from buyers these days.?

Single-Family Homes

Sales of single-family homes across the North Side rose 2% in the first quarter to 152 units, while the median sales price climbed 20.9% to $1,285,000, marking the 14th consecutive quarter for which the median sales price exceeded $1 million. The time it took to find a buyer for homes sold during the quarter was 107 days, up from 91 days a year earlier.

One reason we saw such a strong increase in the median price is that sales rose in the areas where homes are most expensive and generally declined in areas where prices tend to be more moderate. For example, sales were up 23.8% in Lincoln Park, 41.2% in Lake View and 16% in North Center, while they were lower in Lincoln Square, Edgewater and Rogers Park and essentially flat in West Ridge.

The single-family market is seeing a modest increase in the inventory of homes for sale, with 165 listings available at the end of the first quarter this year compared to 155 homes last year. ?

As for median prices, they rose in six of the nine communities. The gains were 65.7% in Rogers Park to $916,500, 35.6% in Uptown to $1,200,000, 26.4% in West Ridge to $480,500, 13.2% in North Center to $1,415,000, 11.7% in Lincoln Park to $1,842,500 and 8.4% in Lincoln Square to $1,192,500. The median fell -12.1% in Edgewater to $859,000, -2.1% in Lake View to $1,498,125 and -1.7% in Near North to $2,457,000.

Condos and Townhouses

There were 1,437 attached-home sales during the quarter. That represents a -6.3% decline from one year ago. Attached homes consist primarily of condominium apartments and townhouses.

Attached-home sales rose in just one of the nine community areas that make up the North Side, but that one was the most significant in terms of the attached market, the Near North Side. Sales there rose 7.6% to 537 units, accounting for 37.4% of + all attached sales for the quarter.

The median sales price of an attached home on the North Side rose 3% for the quarter to $367,500, while average market time decreased by 12 days to 82 days.

The median sales price rose in seven of the nine North Side communities, and Uptown led the way with a 29.2% gain to $$342,500, followed by Lincoln Park, where the median of $612,500 represented a 25% increase. Other gains were: 19.1% in Rogers Park to $224,000, 12.7% in West Ridge to $169,000, 6.3% in Lake View to $416,000, 2.5% in North Center to $525,500 and 2.3% in Lincoln Square to $340,000. The Near North’s median fell -7.3% to $380,000 and Edgewater’s median slipped -1.4% to $241,500.