Chicago’s Luxury Home Market is Moving at Lightning Speed

The eight-figure market in Chicagoland is small, but it’s moving fast this year.

When Engel & Völkers agent Jenny Ames listed a modernized Lincoln Park home at 2107 North Dayton Street for $4.2 million in early September, she expected strong interest. She didn’t expect it to sell in six days, Crain’s reported.

Ames’ 7,600-square-foot listing — that’s $552 per square foot — went under contract less than a week after hitting the MLS, a pattern increasingly common among Chicago’s luxury properties.

Since late summer, at least 13 homes priced above $3 million have gone under contract within 15 days of listing, many within just three days. Most are in Lincoln Park or the North Shore, where buyers are moving decisively on standout inventory.

“The good ones all go quickly, but the dogs linger,” Ames told the outlet.

The ultrawealthy aren’t swayed by mortgage rates or affordability concerns. Instead, they’re motivated by scarcity — waiting patiently for an “A-plus” property to surface, then pouncing when it does.

Compass agent Lisa Finks told the outlet that the rarity of exceptional homes has created “a new category of urgency.” Her Glencoe listing on Hogarth Lane, priced at just under $3.2 million, went under contract in three days. Some luxury buyers, she said, are purchasing homes months before they plan to move, leaving them empty until the timing suits — a flexibility most buyers can’t afford.

Recent examples abound: private equity executive Tom Soueles’ $6.5 million mansion on Burling Street found a buyer in seven days; Wilmette homes listed for $3.7 million and $5.3 million each went under contract in under a week; and a Deming Place rowhouse drew an offer in three days.

@properties Christie’s agent Alexa Hara said her clients offered 13 percent over ask — pushing a Winnetka listing above $3 million — to secure a renovated 1917 home facing the village green.

Some contracts could still fall through, as with a $4.25 million listing on Magnolia Avenue that briefly went contingent before reentering the market. But agents say the broader trend is clear: Chicago’s top-tier homes are vanishing almost as fast as they appear.

— Eric Weilbacher