Suburban luxury sales shined in 2020, but Covid cast cloud over Chicago

Luxury sales in the suburbs jumped 40 percent in 2020, as buyers with the means headed for more spacious and more private digs.

But thanks to a dearth of city buyers, Chicago’s overall market for homes priced $1 million and above sank in 2020. Luxury sales were down 7 percent from the previous year, according to Crain’s.

Winnetka had the most properties sold: 178, for a 20 percent rise over the previous year. It also had the most homes on The Real Deal’s list of 10 biggest residential sales in Cook County last year. Five of those properties were in Winnetka, including the priciest, a $9.5 million, 6,000-square-foot home with 9,000 square feet of private beach.

Lake Forest saw the biggest increase in home sales over 2019, with 149 homes sold — a 69 percent jump.

The year-end results continued a trend that started in late summer, when industry pros began reporting a rise in suburban home sales.

There were a total of 1,204 Chicago and suburban luxury sales last year, Crain’s reported. That was the lowest total in four years. Chicago only accounted for 40 percent of the total number of luxury sales, down from 50 percent in 2019.

Lincoln Park, a perennially popular upper-echelon sales market, dipped 6 percent last year to 288 home sales, and the Near North Side was down almost 30 percent to 249 sales. [Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman