Dark Clouds Still Hanging Over North-Side Home Market

Victorian home in Old Town (above)

By Don DeBat

The 2025 holidays may be only weeks away, but dark clouds still hang over Chicago’s North Side resale-home market, leaving gold-seeking prospective buyers wondering if they will find a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings.

Through the third quarter the North Side residential market continued to struggle with the same year-long hangover headaches—limited listing inventory and strong buyer demand, which keeps pushing home prices higher—extending a cloud-filled trend that has been in place for the last several years.  

That’s the assessment of veteran broker Mary Jo Nathan of Baird & Warner’s North Center office at 4037 N. Damen Ave. Ms. Nathan is author of the quarterly “North Side Market Report,” which tracks sales of single-family homes and attached properties in nine North-Side neighborhoods—Edgewater, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Near North Side/Gold Coast, North Center, Rogers Park, Uptown and West Ridge.

The North-Side market again set a quarterly record for the highest median home price, Ms. Nathan noted.

Mary Jo Nathan (left)

The third quarter median price of $445,000—covering single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes and cooperative apartments—rose by 7.2% over the same quarter a year ago. Looking back 10 years, the third-quarter median price is up a lofty 31.6%.

“A continued contraction in the inventory of available homes remains a major factor in the current housing market,” noted Ms. Nathan. “The North Side inventory of attached and detached homes at the end of the third quarter was 1,418 units, a steep decline of -24.8% from the same point in 2024.”

Mortgage rates dip

The only good news for home buyers now is home-loan interest rates are continuing a downward slide.

On October 23^rd, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey reported that average benchmark 30-year fixed home loans slipped to 6.19% from 6.27% a week earlier. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate loan was 6.54%.

“Mortgage rates continued to trend down this week, hitting their lowest level in over a year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Sam Khater (right)

“At the start of 2025, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage surpassed 7%, while today it hovers nearly a full percentage point lower. This dynamic has kept refinancings high, accounting for more than half of all mortgage activity for the sixth consecutive week.”

Despite the dwindling supply, third-quarter home-sales numbers stayed relatively stable, falling just -0.5% for the quarter to 2,335 properties, according to data from MRED, the regional multiple listing service. The average time on the market before going under contract for properties sold from July through September was 51 days, which compares to an average of 52 days a year earlier. 

“The market remains challenging for buyers, and patience is required because they will often face competition for any home on which they make an offer,” said Ms. Nathan.

“Crafting an offer that is aggressive enough to compete successfully while at the same time not overpaying for a home is the balance buyers must pursue in the current environment,” Ms. Nathan advised. “It often takes several attempts before that goal is achieved.” 

Condos and Townhomes

Even though the inventory of condominiums and townhouses was down -22.5% for the third quarter, sales in the attached homes category rose 1.1% to 2,105 units across the North Side market. That increase was almost entirely attributable to the Near-North/Gold Coast submarket, the largest city market for attached homes, where sales rose 16.6% to 785 units.

Elsewhere across the North Side, only Edgewater managed to eke out an increase, with sales up 1.8% to 168 units. The three other large attached-home submarkets—Lake View, Lincoln Park and Uptown—saw sales decline -1.5%, -12% and -1.1% respectively.

The median sales price of an attached home on the North Side rose 5.1% for the quarter to $400,000, easily the highest third-quarter median price for attached homes ever recorded for the North Side.

The median sales price moved higher in five of the nine North Side communities, led by gains of 22.1% in Lake View, 15% in Lincoln Park and 14.5% in Rogers Park. Edgewater and Near North/Gold Coast also had increases in the median sales price. Average market time was 51 days, unchanged from a year earlier.

Single-Family Homes

Sales of single-family homes were significantly hampered during the third quarter by the lack of inventory, with active listings sinking an amazing -43.5% to just 117 properties at the end of September. That contributed heavily to the -13.2% decline in third quarter sales, which totaled 230 North Side properties.

Conversely, the median sales price for those homes was $1,572,500, a substantial 24.8% increase. That is by far the highest quarterly median price on record for this North Side market segment.

Much of the price increase is because two of the largest and most expensive North Side markets for detached home sales posted strong gains. In Lincoln Park third-quarter sales rose 20.8%, while in North Center they were up 27.3%.

Elsewhere across the North Side, single-family home sales volume was up a solid 22.2% in Rogers Park and 25% in Near North/Gold Coast. However, sales fell in the five other community areas, topped by declines of -61.9% in Edgewater and -51.2% in Lincoln Square. Both those areas ended the quarter with single-family inventory in the single digits: three homes for sales in Edgewater and four in Lincoln Square.

Home prices on rise

The median sales price rose in eight of the nine North Side community areas. The sharpest increase was in Uptown, a gain of 52.3% to $1,572,500. Other top gainers were Near North/Gold Coast, up 28.4% to $2,252,500, and Lincoln Park, up 26.2% to $2,462,500. Only North Center posted a decline, dropping -1.3% to $1,665,000.

Among the nine community areas, only Rogers Park and West Ridge posted a single-family median sales price of less than $1 million for the quarter.

During the quarter, the time it took for detached homes to go under contract was 50 days, 13 days less than one year earlier.

North Side Median Prices—Third Quarter 2025

Neighborhood           Median Price         % Change

Edgewater

Detached               $1,088,500            +1.8%

Attached                $277,250              +6.6%        

Lake View

Detached                $1,940,000            +17.6%

Attached                $488,213              +22.1%

Lincoln Park

Detached                $2,462,500            +26.2%

Attached                $650,000              +15.0%

Lincoln Square

Detached                $1,048,500            +10.3%

Attached                $330,000              -12.4%

Near North/Gold Coast

Detached                $2,252,500            +28.4%

Attached                $430,000               +4.9%

North Center

Detached                $1,665,000            -1.3%

Attached                $545,000              -2.3%

Rogers Park

Detached                $850,000               +41.0%

Attached                $252,000               +14.5%

Uptown

Detached                $1,572,500            +52.3%

Attached                $327,500               -1.7%

West Ridge

Detached               $627,500               +12.7%

Attached                $175,000               -5.4%

Total North Side

Detached                $1,527,500            +24.8%

Attached*                $400,000                +5.1%

*Note: Detached homes include condos, townhomes and cooperative apartments. 

For more housing news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don DeBat is co-author of “Escaping Condo Jail,” the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit www.escapingcondojail.com.