Chicago Neighborhoods Break From Flat Market

Wilmette was busier than usual in 2025, and not just by North Shore standards.

Home sales in the lakefront suburb jumped more than 20 percent last year, according to an analysis of preliminary year-end sales records reported by Crain’s, putting Wilmette among a small group of Chicago-area communities that defied an otherwise flat housing market. Agents on the ground told the outlet that the surge was palpable, even compared to nearby high-end enclaves.

Lisa Finks for instance, a Compass agent who works across several North Shore towns, told the publication that sales volume in Wilmette seemed much busier than in other areas.

Wilmette was among nine suburbs and city neighborhoods where home sales rose sharply in 2025, Crain’s reported, bucking a metro-area market that barely moved. Across the nine-county region, sales ended the year up just 0.2 percent from 2024 — essentially flat — which itself was the slowest year for Chicago-area home sales since 2011. Final numbers could shift slightly once final year-end Illinois Realtors data is released, but the broader picture remains one of stagnation.

Alongside Wilmette, several Chicago neighborhoods posted notable gains, including Little Village, where sales climbed 24 percent, Avondale at 19 percent, and Humboldt Park and South Shore at roughly 13 percent, each. Suburban standouts included Plainfield, Flossmoor, Schaumburg and Glen Ellyn, all up by double digits.

A common thread across many of these pockets is relative affordability, especially as buyers grapple with elevated interest rates and years of price appreciation. In South Shore, for example, the median sale price in November was $185,000, according to Redfin, compared with $230,000 in Hyde Park and $276,000 in Kenwood.

“South Shore is still one of the few areas where prices make sense in today’s interest rate environment,” said Greg Faulkner of the Howell-Faulkner Group at Re/Max Premier.

Even Wilmette benefits from a perception of value, at least within its peer group. The suburb is seen as more attainable than other New Trier Township communities, Finks said, with median home prices just under $1.3 million, compared with about $1.7 million in Glencoe and more than $2 million in Winnetka.

Beyond price, Wilmette’s strong schools, walkable village center and transit access have regained importance, as remote work fades and daily commutes matter again, Fink told the publication.

The broader market, meanwhile, remains constrained by historically tight inventory. Many owners are staying put, locked into low-rate mortgages.

— Eric Weilbacher