Why Wheaton has become one of nation’s hottest real estate markets
That Wheaton ranks among the country’s hottest ZIP codes by Realtor.com comes as no surprise to Joe Soto, who’s been selling homes in his native city for 14 years.
“I might be a little biased,” said Soto, a Realtor with the Lance Kammens Team, who describes the city as a tight-knit, multigenerational community.
He’s not the only one praising the DuPage County ‘burb, which ranked 10th on the Realtor.com list behind Peabody, Massachusetts; Montclair, New Jersey; Sewell, New Jersey; Fairport, New York; Westfield, Massachusetts; Livonia, Michigan; Lititz, Pennsylvania; North Haven, Connecticut, and New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Wheaton, the report says, is “drawing buyers looking for suburban tranquility without giving up job access or infrastructure.” About 77% of Wheaton buyers come from other parts of the Chicago area, the report notes.
According to Realtor.com, Wheaton homes typically attract more than three times as many online viewers as the national average. The website also indicates homes are selling closer to their list price — a median $575,000 — than the national norm and outperform the Chicago market.
Alissa Roy, a Wheaton Academy graduate and Realtor with Keller Williams Inspire in Algonquin, calls the city a desirable area in a stable DuPage County market.
“People like it here,” she said. “Wheaton, Warrenville, Glen Ellyn are great communities that are family-oriented. That’s why people move into them and don’t move out.”
Soto and other industry pros say housing demand in the Chicago area continues to exceed supply and competition for properties remains fierce, with homes going under contract within days, often for more than the asking price.
In response, buyers are doing whatever they can to sweeten the pot, he said. That includes waiving appraisals or inspections, offering a flexible closing date and agreeing to rent the home back to the sellers while they search for a new place.
Inventory is key. Realtors evaluate a market through housing inventory, which measures many months of supply is available. Three months is a balanced market, Roy said. Anything more than five months is a buyer’s market and anything less than three months is a seller’s market.
Wheaton’s current inventory is “historically low,” said Soto, who estimates it at less than a month.
“If there's no supply and a lot of demand, which there is, you get bidding wars,” he added.
Interest rates also affect the market. The Federal Reserve's quarter-point interest rate hike last month to about 3.9% could result in higher borrowing costs for mortgages as well as auto loans and credit cards.
The top interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage at about 7.4% according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, some people might think twice about buying or selling a home.
“My clients don’t love the rate,” said Roy, “but if they need to buy, they need to buy now.”
Meanwhile, owners who have a 3% or 4% interest rate “will stay put if they don't have a compelling reason to make a move,” said Jenny Jones, team leader for the Jones Team at Baird and Warner in Algonquin.
However, she doesn’t think rates have reached the point of dragging the market down.
“We won't see a significant decrease in market activity,” said Jones, who anticipates the “holding pattern” in effect for the last year or so will persist.
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report issued in January, the percentage of owner-occupied homes held free and clear rose from 34% between 2010-2014 to 39% in 2020-2024.
“There is more equity in homes than there has ever been,” said Jones.
The competition is fierce and the home-buying process is stressful. Still, it’s worth it, said Soto.
“The positives and building equity outweigh the negatives,” he said.
bvitello@dailyherald.com