Chicago real estate competition heats up: Homebuyers face fierce bidding wars

Chicago homebuyers are running into a tight market, where few homes for sale are drawing multiple offers and driving prices well above asking, according to multiple reports. Buyers in neighborhoods such as Lake View, Lincoln Park and Northalsted are facing the hardest competition, WBEZ reported.

Alley Ballard, a broker with @properties, told WBEZ, “Things have been crazy. January was really the start of it, and things just went kind of nutso from there.” Ballard said demand is especially strong in neighborhoods with active retail corridors, including Andersonville, Lincoln Park and Wicker Park, WBEZ’s report confirmed. According to the report, she added that some Chicago homes have sold for $100,000 to $300,000 over asking.

Per Realtor.com, home inventory grew nationally by 4.6%, while Chicago’s active listings fell year over year by 18.9% to 3,219 homes in April. Additionally, new listings were found to be down in April by 13.4%, according to Realtor.com.

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Low supply keeps pressure on prices

The shortage of homes is the main force behind the bidding wars that have continued to get worse from spring to summertime. The Chicago Association of Realtors said new single-family listings in June were down 11.3% year over year, while attached-home listings fell 2.8%, per WBEZ. The report confirmed that inventory also hit a historic low, with 1,373 single-family homes and 2,121 attached homes on the market, the lowest levels the group has recorded since 2008.

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Zillow data cited by WBEZ showed Chicago’s market started the year unusually hot, with 25% of homes sold in February in seven days or less and 24.7% selling above asking price. In the 60657 ZIP code, which includes Lake View and Lake View East, 63.4% of homes sold above list price, the report said.

In April, listings on average sold in 33 days, per Realtor.com; but while that number increased from February, it still showed Chicago’s inventory selling faster than the national average of 52 days.

Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, told WBEZ, “Chicago is still too fast relative to the rest of the country, and because homes that come on the market still sell so rapidly, inventory is not building fast enough.”