The last time Chicago did a full by-the-numbers assessment of the real estate market across all housing types, in 2013, the answer to the perennial question “Is it a good time to buy?” was a resounding “Yes!” Prices had finally bottomed out after the crash of 2007 and had nowhere to go but up. But now that we’ve hit the 10-year postcrash milestone, how do things look? In a word, complicated.

Today, the city’s residential market is growing but still trails the rest of the country’s. The CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indexes, which track real estate trends, showed a 4.5 percent increase in single-family home prices for the metro area in 2016, compared with 7.2 percent nationwide. But when you get down to the neighborhood and town level, the picture varies sharply. Some areas are moving toward full recovery at a steady pace, promising continued growth. Others have seen prices continue to lag behind 2006 precrash levels, with lots of properties languishing on the market. Still others have topped out, with sky-high prices and little inventory.

To help prospective homebuyers make sense of all this, we’ve combed through a mountain of data stretching back more than a decade and consulted multiple experts, from real estate agents to economists and academics. We’ve come up with 22 neighborhoods and suburbs that have shown exceptional growth and resilience, making them smart places to buy.


Among the filters we used is a formula provided by Redfin that assigns every ZIP code in the region an investment index value reflecting not just how prices appreciated over time but also how evenly distributed those gains were across all homes in the area. This helped weed out locales where there were wild fluctuations in growth on a block-by-block or house-by-house basis, indicating instability. Next we eliminated areas that seemed to be recovering from the market crash too slowly, as well as those that showed signs of having plateaued.

We divided our list into four categories of buyers—first-timers, mover-uppers, downsizers, and risk takers—taking into account the needs of each so that you can make your next move a smart one.

High-End Homes

At $452,000, Lincoln Park had the highest median condo sale price in the city last year, followed by West Town ($425,000) and the Near North Side ($409,500).

The Near North Side had the highest median sale price last year for single-family homes ($2.2 million) of any Chicago neighborhood. Houses there also spent the most days on the market—257, on average.

Only two suburbs cleared the $1 million mark for median sale price in 2016: Kenilworth and Winnetka (both at $1.2 million).

Sales Stars

Portage Park and Ashburn tied for most single-family home sales in 2016, with 482 each. For multiunit housing, the Near North Side topped the list, with 2,726 sales.

With a median sale price of $1.3 million, the Near South Side had the priciest houses on the South Side in 2016.

Houses in McKinley Park spent the shortest amount of time on the market in the city in 2016: 49 days, on average.

Home prices rose 115 percent last year in west suburban Stone Park, a bigger one-year jump than in any other town.

Armour Square showed the highest increase in median house sale price in 2016, jumping 140 percent.

10-Year Changes

Since 2006—when housing prices peaked nationally—Edgewater saw the top increase in the median sale price of single-family homes, at 44 percent.

Englewood had the sharpest decline in median house sale price since 2006: 84 percent.

House prices in south suburban Harvey were down 81 percent from decade-ago precrash levels, the biggest drop across the six-county suburban area.

Only four suburbs saw a price increase over the past decade: Kenilworth (7 percent), Western Springs (7 percent), Elmhurst (2 percent), and Hinsdale (2 percent).

What your home is worth

Select Which Data to View Chicago neighborhoods Chicago suburbs Houses Condos, townhouses, and other attached units You can also click on the top of each column to sort by that value. Not sure what neighborhood you’re in? Enter your address below to find out:

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Median sale prices for stand-alone housing Change since 2006 Change since 2015 100% drop 100% increase Community areas in grey had fewer than 20 sales. Community areas in grey had fewer than 20 sales.

Median sale prices for attached housing (townhouses, condos, etc.) Change since 2006 Change since 2015 100% drop 100% increase Community areas in grey had fewer than 20 sales. Community areas in grey had fewer than 20 sales.

2015 housing data

“Community areas” are defined by the City of Chicago and may include more than one neighborhood. Those on the northwestern side of the city are included in “West.” Edgewater includes Andersonville, Lakewood Balmoral. Lincoln Square includes Budlong Woods, Ravenswood. Near North Side includes Gold Coast, Old Town, River North. North Center includes Roscoe Village. Logan Square includes Bucktown. Near West Side includes West Loop. West Town includes Noble Square, Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park. Armour Square includes Chinatown. Near South Side includes Printers Row, South Loop.