CHICAGO HOUSING MARKET STATISTICS
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME $44,650
HOME OWNERS 45%
MEDIAN SALES PRICE $285,000 (Trulia.com)
PRICE PER SQ. FT. $239
MEDIAN RENT PER MONTH $1,750
TOP REASONS TO INVEST IN CHICAGO
doubled over the past ten years. The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University found that the number of rental households among those earning at least $132,000 a year nearly doubled, while those earning $80,000 to $132,000 saw the number of rent- ing households increase by just over 50 percent. Chicago has a booming supply of high-end rentals, especially luxury apartments in downtown. NO. 3 Chicago Home Prices Are Reasonable Because households at all in- come levels choose to rent instead of buy, they are reducing demand for houses for sale, slowing the rise in home prices. This also ex- plains why housing prices haven’t skyrocketed despite limited supply. Chicago’s inventory of homes for sale is very tight. Both attached and detached sin- gle-family home inventory has been declining since 2012. At the end of 2017, potential buyers in Chicago had about 5,000 fewer properties on the market to select from than if they’d been shopping at the end of 2016. This contributed to homes clos- ing five days faster than the year before. If you start shopping for rental real estate, you could find something and lease it.
NO. 4 Chicago Home Prices Are Appreciating
Investing in Chicago rentals will fetch you good returns in the long term as the home prices in Chicago have been trending up year-over- year. Here are our Top 10 positive things going on in the Chicago real estate market that can help investors who are keen to buy an investment property in this city: NO. 1 Rental Demand Is High and So Are Rents What makes Chicago such a hot market for rental real estate? Over 50 percent of the population rents. The large population of renters means that rental income for properties is far better than you’d see if you invest- ed elsewhere in the country. Schaumberg reported slowing sales simply due to tight supply according to data from the Chicago Association of Realtors; this drives many people forming new house- holds or moving into the area to rent at whatever the market will bear.
Chicago’s real estate market has been one of the slowest to recover since the housing bubble burst at the start of the Great Recession. Home prices were 19 percent below their pre-crash levels in 2017, but they are expected to hit peak values in 2020. This means that the Chicago real estate market is likely going to continue its slow, upward market trend. Trends in Chicago show a one percent year-over-year rise in median sales price and a three per- cent rise in median rent per month.
NO. 5 Rehabbed Homes Are Readily Available
Chicago is seeing a surge in fully renovated single-family homes. The Chicago Association of Realtors’ data found that most of the strong suburbs are on the south side of Chicago, and this is where many homes are being rehabbed and sold. Calumet Heights is in this cate- gory; a quarter of properties sold were either rehabbed or candidates for rehabilitation. These properties are ideal for investors who want to buy a property to rent out.
NO. 2 Luxury Rentals Are a Profitable Niche
Many people know that there are solid blue-collar areas with high rents, but it isn’t just the working class that rents townhomes and con- dos. According to Crain’s, the num- ber of upper-income households in Cook County that rent has nearly
NO. 6 Job Growth Keeps People Coming
Chicago is not only home to many corporate headquarters; there has
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