Chicago home prices slide again, suburbs flatline

Declining home prices across the nation have caught up to Chicago, while numbers in its suburbs remain relatively flat.

Illinois Realtors latest report showed the median home price in Chicago was $334,000 in March, down 3.2 percent from $345,000 one year prior, Crain’s reported. Last month’s numbers also mark a the fifth month in a row prices have dipped, with the biggest occurring in December when prices fell about 8 percent.

The single-family sector was the main culprit for the reduced figures, despite only accounting for 27 percent of all residential sales. Houses in the Windy City have dropped 8.7 percent to  $295,000 since March 2022, while average prices for townhomes and condos slightly increased by 1.7 percent to $362,500, the outlet reported, citing separate data from the Chicago Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, home prices in the Chicago metro, which includes nine counties, have flatlined since last March, with the median average settling at $310,000 both last month and a year before.

Like most markets around the country, the overall sales volume in Chicago has decreased considerably since the market peaked last summer. The 2,168 homes that sold in the city last month was 25 percent less than 12 months prior, and suburban sales fell by 22 percent to 7,802.

However, asking prices recently soared to record levels, despite a cooling market, Redfin statistics showed earlier this month. The median asking price was more than $333,500 as of late March — a 1.1 percent increase from the same time last year and 2.4 percent jump from the previous record of $332,700.

A low level of inventory is a big reason for the rise in asking prices, as just 5,160 homes were on the market by the end of February, down 17 percent year-over-year from 6,220 homes.

— Quinn Donoghue