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Prototype of a planned home-buying brokerage for the 50 largest U.S. cities. Not a licensed brokerage in any state, and no brokerage services are offered. Listings, people and companies are sample data; market statistics are real public data, cited where shown.

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Trends · Illinois

House prices and costs in Chicago, IL

How house prices moved across 57 Chicago ZIP codes, what buyers here borrowed and paid, what's new and how buying works in Illinois. Public data, with sources and dates. Past change, not a forecast.

Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg, IL house prices +5.8% in the year to 2026 Q2 (FHFA, purchases)

7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR.

How house prices moved in Chicago, 2022–2025

Of 45 ZIPs with enough data, 42 rose 7% or more, 0 fell 7% or more and 1 moved less (no clear change); 2 swung too much from year to year to rank. Past rankings are a weak guide: of the ZIPs in their city's top 3 for 2019–2022, 25 of 134 (about 1 in 5) were top 3 again for 2022–2025; chance alone would give about 21. Past change, not a forecast.

FHFA's experimental ZIP house price index: houses with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans, from sales and refinance appraisals. Condos, co-ops and multi-unit buildings aren't in it. Tap a ZIP to see it on the map.

Largest house-price rises, 2022–2025

3-year change of the ZIP index; ZIPs with an index every year, 5,000+ residents and 1,000+ owner-occupied homes. Left out as too jumpy: a ZIP whose index rose 7% or more in one year and fell as much in another. Each year's change below.

  1. 1ZIP 606212023 +12.7% · 2024 +11.8% · 2025 +17.2%+47.7%
  2. 2ZIP 606362023 -1.9% · 2024 +24.9% · 2025 +15.5%+41.5%
  3. 3ZIP 606602023 +13.3% · 2024 +0.3% · 2025 +13.7%+29.2%
  4. 4ZIP 60657 · includes Lakeview2023 +4.5% · 2024 +3.6% · 2025 +18.1%+27.9%
  5. 5ZIP 606242023 +1.7% · 2024 +3.5% · 2025 +20.3%+26.6%

Largest house-price falls, 2022–2025

3-year change of the ZIP index; ZIPs with an index every year, 5,000+ residents and 1,000+ owner-occupied homes. Left out as too jumpy: a ZIP whose index rose 7% or more in one year and fell as much in another. Each year's change below.

No Chicago ZIP's house prices fell 7% or more from 2022 to 2025.

Lowest owner-reported values

Median value owners report (Census ACS 2020–2024). Left out: ZIPs under 1,000 residents, less reliable estimates, and ZIPs where most owners live in condos or co-ops.

  1. 1ZIP 60621± $18K · ≈ $1,118/mo housing payment (est.) on a house, 20% down$154K
  2. 2ZIP 60636± $9.2K · ≈ $1,130/mo housing payment (est.) on a house, 20% down$155K
  3. 3ZIP 60628± $4.3K · ≈ $1,225/mo housing payment (est.) on a house, 20% down$170K
  4. 4ZIP 60617± $8.1K · ≈ $1,297/mo housing payment (est.) on a house, 20% down$181K
  5. 5ZIP 60633± $11K · ≈ $1,337/mo housing payment (est.) on a house, 20% down$187K

Population grew most

Residents, 2015–2019 to 2020–2024 (Census ACS): only changes larger than the margin of error, in ZIPs with 1,000+ residents.

  1. 1ZIP 6065425,755 residents+28.6%
  2. 2ZIP 6061137,705 residents+13.5%
  3. 3ZIP 6063752,721 residents+11.5%
  4. 4ZIP 6061044,883 residents+10.7%
  5. 5ZIP 6060732,392 residents+10.6%

Public loan records · 2025

What buyers here actually borrowed and paid (2025)

2025 home-purchase loans (first liens) on owner-occupied 1–4 unit homes in Chicago's census tracts: 17,220 loans. These are loans that closed in Chicago, not offers: a rate depends on your credit, down payment, points and the day you lock it.

Interest rate, 30-year fixed (conventional)
6.49% to 6.99%Middle half of loans; median 6.75% · 11,907 loans
Loan costs at closing
$6,066 to $7,788Middle half; median $6,687. Origination charges (points included) and settlement services, Closing Disclosure section D · 13,988 loans
Borrowed, every loan on the home combined
86.8% of the value (median)Middle half 80% to 95%. 55.1% of buyers borrowed more than 80% of the value, 39.4% more than 90%, 22.7% more than 95%. HMDA's combined loan-to-value: every loan on the home (second loans, down-payment-assistance loans and financed FHA or VA fees too) ÷ the value the lender used, so it doesn't show the cash buyers put down · 16,580 loans
Loan types
Conventional 85% · FHA 12.1%VA 2.9% · USDA 0%
Discount points
34.1% of loans paid pointsMedian paid: $1,511. Points buy a lower rate.
Loan limits, 2026
$832,750 conformingAbove it, a jumbo loan with its own rates and rules; FHA limit $541,287 (one-unit home, Cook County)

For comparison: 7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR. Source: FFIEC Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data: 2025 Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset (data as of June 1, 2026), via the CFPB HMDA Data Browser; Homiy's calculations (2025 loans; retrieved 2026-09-27).

Research · dated and sourced

What's new in Chicago

Rail openings, zoning changes and big projects from primary sources, newest first. Stars on the map mark the ones with a location. News, not a price forecast.

  1. Zoning change

    Chicago makes its expanded ADU framework permanent

    Multi-unit and certain commercial districts have broader ADU permissions. Single-family RS districts still require an ADU-Allowed RS Area; check the official map and pathway-specific conditions.

    Chicago Department of Housing, ADU eligibility
  2. Rail opened

    Damen Green Line station opens

    The new infill station at Damen and Lake restores a rail access point between Ashland and California. It is separate from Damen stations on other CTA lines.

    Near ZIP 60612

    City of Chicago, Damen Green Line station opening

Metro area · public data

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

House prices, year to 2026 Q2
+5.8%FHFA purchase-only index for Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg, IL
House prices, 5 years to 2026 Q2
+41.1%FHFA purchase-only index for Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg, IL
House prices, 2025
+6.6%All sales and refinances, like the ZIP figures; 2022–2025: +21.2%
New homes permitted
1.6 per 1,000 residents15,130 homes · -14.5% vs a year earlier · Sep 2025–Aug 2026
Jobs, 12 months
+0.2%Aug 2026 (preliminary)
Population, July 2020 to July 2025
0.0%9,434,123 residents in July 2025 (Census estimates)
Mortgage rate benchmark
7.03%Freddie Mac average, week of Sep 24, 2026

7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR. New homes permitted is a supply signal: more permits per resident usually means more homes coming to market. Jobs, permits and population cover the whole metro.

Natural hazards, compared with other U.S. counties

  • Cook County, IL: expected yearly losses rated very high for inland flooding, heat wave, tornado, winter weather; expected yearly losses rated relatively high for earthquake, hail.
    Other ratings for Cook County, IL
    • WildfireVery Low
    • HurricaneVery Low
    • Coastal floodingRelatively Low
  • DuPage County, IL: expected yearly losses rated very high for tornado; expected yearly losses rated relatively high for inland flooding, winter weather.
    Other ratings for DuPage County, IL
    • EarthquakeRelatively Moderate
    • WildfireVery Low
    • HurricaneVery Low
    • Heat waveRelatively Moderate
    • HailRelatively Low

FEMA National Risk Index December 2025: Expected Annual Loss rating of each hazard, by county (NRI December 2025): expected annual losses to buildings, people and agriculture; FEMA's social-vulnerability adjustments aren't included. This describes each county, not this home. Check the address on FEMA's flood map; in a high-risk flood zone, a federally backed loan requires flood insurance.

Sources (11)

Research summary · not legal advice

How buying works in Illinois

The usual steps, deadlines and closing costs for a purchase in Chicago, from state law, standard contract forms and local custom. Contracts can change any of it. Homiy is a prototype: it isn't a licensed brokerage in Illinois and offers no services here.

Who runs the closing
A title company runs the closing and holds the money. Typical time from contract to keys: about 45 days.
The contract
Your signed offer becomes a binding contract once the seller accepts it.
Details

Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 8.0 (Chicago area)

Buyer agreement
Exclusive buyer brokerage agreement, signed before touring.
Details

Exclusive brokerage agreements must be written (225 ILCS 454/15-75); NAR's 2024 rule requires one before touring.

Source: 225 ILCS 454 art. 15 (15-75 exclusive brokerage agreements in writing) (2024 statutes)

Attorney review
5 business days after acceptance: either side's attorney may disapprove the contract or propose changes.
Details

Either side's attorney may approve, disapprove (not only over price) or propose changes except the price; if no agreement 10 business days after acceptance, either party may terminate (8.0 ¶13). Buyer and seller attorneys are customary.

Inspection
About 5 business days for inspections.
Details

Notice of major defects within 5 business days after acceptance, alongside attorney review; if there is no written agreement on them 10 business days after acceptance, either party may terminate and the earnest money is refunded (8.0 ¶15(b)).

Earnest money
3–10% of the price, due within 2 business days, held by: Escrowee named in the contract (listing brokerage or title company).
Details

Initial deposit within the business days written in (sample 2); a second deposit often follows attorney review. Typical % is a sample.

Seller's disclosure
Residential Real Property Disclosure Report (765 ILCS 77/35) You may cancel within 5 business days in some cases: the report is delivered after the contract is signed and discloses a material defect.
Details

Written termination returns all earnest money (765 ILCS 77/40, raised from 3 to 5 business days in 2022). Radon and lead disclosures are separate.

Source: 765 ILCS 77 Residential Real Property Disclosure Act (§40 as amended by HB 4322, 2022) (2025 statutes)

Loan and appraisal
Loan contingency: until 5 business days before closing (set in the contract).
Details

8.0 ¶8: loan approval due 45 days after acceptance or 5 business days before closing, whichever is earlier. A low appraisal is an exit only with the Multi-Board Appraisal Addendum.

Title insurance
The seller customarily pays for the owner's policy.
Details

8.0 ¶17: the seller furnishes a commitment for an owner's policy with extended coverage.

Property tax for a new owner
Your property tax follows the county's assessed market value. About 1.5% of the price a year is our planning figure for Chicago; your bill can differ.
Details

Cook County reassesses on a three-year cycle at 10% of market value times the state equalizer, less the $10,000 homeowner exemption; bills are paid a year in arrears, so the seller credits the buyer at closing.

Census ACS 2020–2024 median tax ÷ median value in Chicago (1.48%). Cook County reassesses Chicago every three years (last for tax year 2024) and a sale doesn't reset the assessment; bills are paid a year in arrears. Owner-reported values lag the market; treat as an estimate.

Agent credits to the buyer
Illinois allows an agent to credit part of their pay to the buyer, with the lender's approval.
Details

Illinois expressly lets licensees offer rebates to consumers (225 ILCS 454/10-15(d)), subject to RESPA and the lender.

Source: 225 ILCS 454/10-15(d): licensees may offer rebates to consumers (2025 statutes)

Closing taxes

Closing taxes in Chicago, who customarily pays and the rate
TaxCustomarily paid byRate
Illinois real estate transfer taxSeller0.1% of the priceCook County Clerk: transfer fees (Illinois $0.50 per $500; Cook County $0.25 per $500)
Cook County real estate transfer taxSeller0.05% of the priceCook County Clerk: transfer fees (county $0.25 per $500)
Chicago real property transfer tax (city portion)Buyer0.75% of the priceCity of Chicago: real property transfer tax (buyer $3.75 per $500; CTA portion $1.50 per $500 paid by the seller)
Chicago transfer tax (CTA portion)Seller0.3% of the priceCity of Chicago: real property transfer tax (buyer $3.75 per $500; CTA portion $1.50 per $500 paid by the seller)

Programs and after you buy

Down-payment help
IHDAccess (Access Forgivable, Deferred and Repayable) (Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA))Down payment and closing cost help with an IHDA mortgage: Access Forgivable offers 4% of the price up to $6,000, forgiven monthly over 10 years; Access Deferred up to $7,500; Access Repayable up to $10,000. Income and price limits apply.Official page, checked 2026-09-28.Illinois's housing finance agency runs it; the program decides who qualifies and for how much.
Down-payment help in Chicago
HomeGrown Purchase Assistance (City of Chicago Department of Housing)Grant assistance for down payments and closing costs for eligible homebuyers; applications go through the program's authorized administrators.Official page, checked 2026-09-28.
Homestead exemption
Property Tax Exemptions (Cook County Assessor's Office)The Homeowner Exemption lowers the taxable value of a home its owner lives in as a principal residence; new homeowners apply online, and it renews automatically after that.Deadline: the Assessor's yearly filing period (this year's has closed; late filings go through a Certificate of Error)Official page, checked 2026-09-28.
If you disagree with your assessment
Overview of How Appeals Work (Cook County Assessor's Office)If the characteristics on your assessment notice are wrong, or its estimated market value is well above what your home could sell for, you should file an appeal.When: the last date to file is printed on your assessment noticeOfficial page, checked 2026-09-28.
After you buy: alerts on your deed
Property Fraud Alert (Cook County Clerk)A free alert by phone or email any time a document is recorded against your property.Official page, checked 2026-09-28.
Sources (11)

Methodology

How we measure, and what it isn't

Past change, not a forecast. These figures describe the past from public data; they don't tell you where prices go next.

House prices by ZIP, and the rankings

FHFA's experimental ZIP house price index: houses with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans, from sales and refinance appraisals. Condos, co-ops and multi-unit buildings aren't in it. It's built from repeat sales and refinance appraisals of the same homes, not average sale prices, and FHFA publishes no margin of error for it. We rank ZIPs by the change over the last 3 years, only where FHFA published the index in every one of them, and only ZIPs with 5,000+ residents and 1,000+ owner-occupied homes. A change smaller than 7% either way is “no clear change”: in our 50 cities, the index's own year-to-year swings suggest sampling alone can move a three-year change about that much. A ZIP whose index rose 7% or more in one year and fell as much in another is left out as too jumpy. We show rises and falls, each year's change, and the city's and metro's figures for the same years. Past rankings are a weak guide: of the ZIPs in their city's top 3 for 2019–2022, 25 of 134 (about 1 in 5) were top 3 again for 2022–2025; chance alone would give about 21. Many ZIPs, especially dense ones, have no index.

City and metro price figures

City: the resident-weighted average of its ZIPs that have an index (the ZIP card says when that's only part of the city). Metro: FHFA's all-transactions index over the same calendar years, the ZIPs' method; the metro card also shows FHFA's purchase-only index for the latest quarter against a year and five years earlier. Where FHFA splits a metro into divisions (New York, Miami, Detroit and others), the division's index, named where it's shown. Jobs, permits and population always cover the whole metro.

Payment ÷ income

Monthly housing payment (est.) on a house at the ZIP's median value: 20% down · 30-year fixed at 7.03% (Freddie Mac average) · 360 monthly loan payments · APR not calculated (it depends on the lender's fees) · includes principal and interest, property tax, home insurance and any HOA dues, plus mortgage insurance below 20% down. Property tax uses Chicago's rule for a new buyer (about 1.5% of the price a year, our planning figure); insurance is a typical premium. Not included: upkeep, utilities, flood insurance, special assessments. Divided by a month of the ZIP's median household income. The Census reports values over $2 million and incomes over $250,000 only as “or more”, so those shares are bounds (“at least”, “at most”). Left out where 50% or more of owner-occupied homes are in buildings with 5+ units: their HOA dues or co-op charges aren't in the payment. It combines two estimates, so no margin is computed. 7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR.

Census figures and margins of error

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024: the median value owners report for their homes (it lags sale prices; co-op owners report the value of their shares), median rent with utilities, median household income, residents, and the property tax and monthly costs owners report. Each comes with its 90% margin of error (±). Figures whose margin is 20–49% of the estimate are marked “less reliable” and left out of rankings and tags; figures with wider margins aren't shown. A population change (from 2015–2019) is shown only when it passes the Census Bureau's 90% significance test; otherwise it says “no clear change”. Chicago's own figures come from the Census's estimates for the city itself where published; otherwise they blend its ZIPs (no margin computed). Lists leave out ZIPs with fewer than 1,000 residents.

Tags

Lower home values:
The median value owners report is in the lowest quarter of the city's ZIPs (Census ACS). Less reliable estimates and ZIPs where most owners live in condos or co-ops aren't compared.
Population grew:
Residents rose 5% or more between the two latest five-year Census surveys, by more than the margin of error.
Mostly condos or co-ops:
Half or more of owner-occupied homes are in buildings with 5 or more units. Values there leave out HOA dues and co-op charges, so they aren't ranked.
New rail nearby:
A rail station opened within about a mile in 2023–2026.

“New rail nearby” uses our dated news pins: a ZIP whose center is within 1,600 m of a station that opened, plus the ZIP the station sits in. No tag describes price momentum.

Hazards and flood insurance

FEMA's National Risk Index rates each county's expected yearly losses from each hazard against all U.S. counties; we show those Expected Annual Loss ratings for every county the city lies in, without FEMA's social-vulnerability adjustments. They describe counties, not homes. Flood insurance counts are policies and claims in the federal program (NFIP) only. Check an address's flood zone on FEMA's flood map.

What buyers borrowed and paid

Public HMDA loan records: home-purchase first liens on owner-occupied 1–4 unit homes in the city (the card names the area covered), with the number of loans behind each figure. Loans that closed, not offers or quotes.

Neutral by design

We describe prices, payments, population counts, construction and rail lines. We don't describe places by who lives there, schools or crime, and we don't call areas “up-and-coming”, “transitional” or “safe”. Choose where to live for your own reasons.

Sources and dates