On Thursday I provided a quick overview of the new construction real estate market in Chicago which showed continued strength in this segment. Since then I stumbled on a Crain’s article where Dennis Rodkin pointed out that Chicago building permits were down significantly from a year ago so we would expect fewer new homes being built. However, I haven’t seen the affects of this in the data yet.
To continue with my 2019 new construction review let me show you where the new single family homes are being built and at what kind of price points. To do this I’m looking at the 12 month period ending Saturday and have identified all properties that have either sold or are currently on the market. Since the last time I did this I’ve refined my technique a bit and as a result I’m coming up with more properties than I would have in the past. Therefore, I can’t really tell you whether there is more or less activity this year than last year.
But I did come up with 632 homes. Of those 47 were listed below $400 K and 87 below $500 K. At the other end of the spectrum a whopping 222 were priced above $1 MM from which 45 were actually priced above $2 MM.
Let’s start by looking at where all these homes are on the map below and how they’re priced.
Chicago’s Single Family Home New Construction Mapped
The map is very interactive with each home corresponding to a color coded pin that represents the price range that it’s in. You can click on the icon in the upper left corner of the map to display the legend for the price ranges. Please note that the price ranges are created automatically by Google so don’t blame me for the weird cutoffs.
Clicking on a pin will pull up some basic information on the home, including whether or not it sold, at what price, and what it was listed for. You can also click on the colored areas to identify the community areas. The map has other interactive features that allow you to pan, zoom, share, and expand the map to full screen.
You can see the same patterns in the data that we have seen in previous years. Prices are higher to the east and lower to the west as you would totally expect but all the new construction is taking place west of Clark St. And the highest priced homes are being built on the north side in Lincoln Park and Lake View but there are quite a few $1 MM+ homes being built in West Town, south of Chicago – even past Western a bit. There is also a decent amount of construction occurring on the south side as well.
Chicago New Single Family Home Construction Activity By Neighborhood
The following graph summarizes where the bulk of the construction is occurring. I’ve aggregated the activity by community area (which I loosely and incorrectly also call neighborhoods, consistent with popular practice) and many of the top slots are filled with the same suspects as last year. However, it’s worth noting that Grand Boulevard, which is part of Bronzeville, has jumped to the top slot, Morgan Park has moved higher on the list, and Avondale is now in the top 10. So there is a bit more activity in areas where the land is less expensive.
I hate to try to draw more conclusions than those, given that my methodology has changed since last year.
Average New Single Family Home Prices By Neighborhood
It’s interesting to see just how expensive these new construction homes are so I’ve ranked these same community areas by average list price. No surprise that Lincoln Park is at the top of the list with an average price of around $3.5 MM. And you don’t get below an average of $1 MM until you hit Forest Glen. And only 3 community areas have an average below $500 K: New City, Brighton Park, and Morgan Park. Heck, the average list price of these new homes in Humboldt Park is almost $594 K and in Grand Boulevard it’s just over $600 K. Can you say gentrification?
Of course, averages are misleading so the map above is actually your best bet if you want to get a better sense of what is available where.
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Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.