Where in the 234 square miles of Chicago are the most competitive housing markets located?
“It’s still a seller’s market in Chicago.”
That was the conclusion of Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist, in the brokerage’s latest Real-Time Housing Market Tracker, a detailed look at Chicago’s housing market in May.
Indeed, it’s difficult to argue with Richardson’s statement. Since March, Chicago has averaged just a 4-months supply of inventory, and half of the city’s listings sell in 17 days or less (the fast pace in almost two years).
What neighborhoods, though, are seeing the highest level of activity? To find out, we took a closer look at Redfin’s numbers and assembled the following graphs with our findings.
First, here are the 10 neighborhoods with the least median days on market:
As with the last Real-Time Housing Market Tracker, the three speediest neighborhoods in May were the West Loop, Logan Square and Ukrainian Village. Even Old Town and Avondale, at No. 9 and 10, see homes sell in less than three weeks (nationwide, the median time on market is 52 days).
Second, here are the neighborhoods with the smallest housing inventory (by months supply):
A normal level of housing inventory is between 6- and 7-months supply, so inventory in those Chicago neighborhoods is really, really low.
Stay tuned for our coverage next week, when we’ll publish the top 10 selling suburbs and city neighborhoods in Chicagoland.
Almost a seller’s market.
Small inventory levels in the above neighborhoods is also reflected in lower cap rates on multi-family properties (higher sales prices). This pushes rents (as will increased real estate taxes due to property value increases and the City budget shortfalls), which will result in movement of existing tenants or tenants subjected to higher rents.