North Side Home Sales Inching Back To Pre-Pandemic Levels

Chicago’s North Side housing market—on a respirator gasping for air since late 2020—is breathing again.

The market began 2023 much as it ended 2022, with first-quarter sales down by roughly one-third when compared to the pandemic-fueled buying surge that shaped the market from mid-2020 until the second half of 2022, according to the Chicago North Side Market Report.

North Side home sales totaled 1,683 units during the first quarter of 2023, which was -32.5% less than in the same period last year, noted Mary Jo Nathan, broker in Baird & Warner’s North Center office at 4037 N. Damen. Ave., and author of the report.

During the final quarter of 2022, sales in the North Side market were down a hefty -34.2% from the comparable period in 2021.

However, home prices showed greater resilience. The median price of all attached and detached sales came in at $380,000 for the first quarter, a minimal dip of only -1.1% compared to the same quarter in 2022.

The quarterly Chicago North Side Market Report tracks sales of single-family and attached homes in the neighborhoods of Edgewater, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Near North Side, North Center, Rogers Park, Uptown and West Ridge.

“Rather than comparing the current market to the 2020 pandemic sales boom, it makes more sense to look at the years just before that when we had low interest rates but a greater inventory and less pressure on buyers,” Nathan said.

“First-quarter home sales on the North Side averaged 1,730 units in 2019 and 2020, just before the pandemic, which is 2.8% more than in the first quarter this year,” Nathan noted.

“That seems like a more realistic yardstick against which to measure what we’re seeing this year,” she said. “And I believe even that decline would be largely eliminated if there were more homes on the market.”

The inventory of homes for sale at the end of March was just 1,656 units, which is -27.3% less than one year earlier.

“The continuing shortage of listings has encouraged multiple offers for many properties,” explained Nathan. “Attached listings were down -30.1% from a year ago, while detached listings, though still scarce by pre-Covid standards, had a welcome increase of 19.2%.”

Single-Family Homes

Sales of single-family homes across the North Side tumbled an amazing -34.9% in the first quarter to only 149 units, and the median sales price plummeted -11.5% to $1,062,500. The time it took to find a buyer for homes sold during the quarter was 91 days, up from 86 days a year earlier.

Single-family sales activity receded in eight of the nine community areas that make up the North Side Market, with Rogers Park registering an increase of 37.5% to 11 sales, while adjacent West Ridge recorded the smallest sales decline at -6.9%. Two other areas saw declines of less than 20%, Edgewater at -16.7% and North Center at -19.4%.

The steepest sales drop was in Lincoln Park at a whopping -57.1%, while both Lake View and Lincoln Square saw sales plummet -50% from a year ago. Sales fell -40% on the Near North Side and -37.5% in Uptown.

As for median prices, the picture was more mixed, with gains in five areas and declines in four. Lake View led with an increase of 9.3% to $1.529 million. Lincoln Square prices rose a solid 8.2% to $1.1 million.

On the Near North Side and Gold Coast median prices rose 5.3% to $2.5 million. In Lincoln Park prices rose 3.8% to $1.65 million. Edgewater eked out a gain of 0.2% to $977,000.

In Uptown, the single-family median price plummeted -18.5% to $885,000. In Rogers Park prices fell -12.2% to $553,000, while they slipped -10.6% in West Ridge to $380,000, and -7.4% in North Center to $1.25 million.

Condos and Townhouses

The attached home market—which consists primarily of townhouses, co-ops and condominiums—recorded 1,534 units sold during the first quarter of 2023. That hefty -32.2% decline compares with average first-quarter sales of 1,552 attached homes from in 2019 and 2020—a 1.1% difference.

The median price of an attached North Side home rose 0.5% for the quarter to $356,750, while average market time fell 10 days to 94 days.

Attached-home median prices rose in three of the nine North Side neighborhoods. Lincoln Square posted a 12.3% gain to $332,500. Lake View’s median rose 5% to $391,250, while in North Center the median of $512,000 was up 4%. Edgewater’s median was unchanged at $245,000.

Medians were lower in five areas, noticeably on the Near North Side and Gold Coast, which is the largest attached market. There the median slipped -9.5% to $410,000. Uptown recorded a -8.1% decline to $240,000, and Lincoln Park, at $490,000, was down -7.5%.

Elsewhere, the median in West Ridge fell -3.2% to $150,000, and in Rogers Park it slipped -2.1% to $188,000.

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.