Fewer homes being purchased in Chicago area, but sales prices still going up

Homebuyers in the Chicago area may have had more choices in April than the year prior, but that didn’t translate to more sales — or lower prices.

According to the most recent Illinois Realtors’ monthly residential real estate report for April 2025, the nine-county Chicago Metro Area had 11,791 residential properties on the market, up 3.6% from April 2024.

However, the region saw a 4.2% dip in sales when comparing April 2024 to April 2025. The report showed 7,857 home sales in April 2025 compared to 8,198 for the same month in 2024.

“I think a big factor of the stronger price growth in the Chicago region compared to other parts of the country is supply constraints,” said Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute of Housing Studies at DePaul University. “A big piece of it is less construction than in other states, too.”

He also noted lingering economic uncertainty about inflation and “growing anxiety” over job stability is also contributing to a slower market.

But sales prices are not slowing.

The median sales price for a home in the Chicago Metro Area in April 2025 was $370,000, up 5.7% from April 2024.

“This tells us buyers are still willing to pay for well-priced, move-in-ready homes in desirable locations,” said Tommy Choi, Illinois Realtors president. “We are seeing more activity from buyers who are timing their moves ahead of summer and sellers who are adapting their strategies to align with today’s market realities.”

That also bucks a national trend where home prices were much more stable from 2024 to 2025, rising just 1.8% during that time, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.

Smith’s group is predicting sales prices for single-family homes in the Chicago Metro Area will continue to grow over the next three months by 1.4% and they estimate total sales for May, June and July to increase 3.6% over the same three-month period a year ago.

Smith added that while new construction is slow in the region, he expects residential development for “higher-end rental properties” and “really expensive single-family homes” to continue unfettered.

“Inflation and job stability are less of a concern for those who have the money to weather the economy,” he said.

Homes purchased in the Chicago Metro Area in April 2025 spent an average of 28 days on the market, the shortest amount of time so far this year. However, that’s two days longer than homes purchased in April 2024, records show.

Statewide, home sales trends were similar to the Chicago area, according to the Illinois Realtors report.

The state saw 3.4% fewer home purchases in April 2025 than in April 2024, dropping from 11,705 a year ago to 11,308 in April of this year.

That’s despite a larger inventory in April 2025 as well. The report listed 17,819 homes available in April 2025 compared to 17,099 the prior April.

The statewide median sales price was also way up from a year ago at $310,000. That’s a 6.2% increase from April 2024’s $292,000 median sales price.