Chicago’s frenetic housing market shows few signs of slowing as 2022 starts

Chicago’s frenetic housing market shows few signs of slowing as buyers jostled to be first in line after a hyperactive 2021.

Two of three homes that had open houses over the weekend were in contract by Monday, Coldwell Banker agent Anne DuBray in Glenview told Crain’s. About 100 people turned up for a one-hour open house at a new 11-unit condo building in Lakeview, John Grafft of Compass told the outlet. Another Coldwell agent, Anthony Rodriguez, took a client to an Albany Park house on the market for just two days, only to find a full schedule of back-to-back showings.

“It’s crazy out there,” Dubray told Crain’s. The third open house “is probably only a day behind” the other two.

As the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates again, making mortgages more expensive, many buyers are shopping for homes even before sellers are ready. About 4,100 homes came on the market in Chicago in the first week of 2022, just shy of the 5,350 available in 2021’s first week.

A survey by Compass shows that after steep declines in the inventory of homes available in 2020 and 2021, 44 percent of agents expect supply to improve. Yet many say 2022 will still favor sellers over buyers.

“You have to pounce when a good new listing comes on the market,” Brian Pistorius of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices told Crain’s. About 37 families came to his weekend open houses in Logan Square, he said. “In this weather, we’d usually be lucky to get five or six.”

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[Crain’s] — Victoria Pruitt