Chicago Real Estate Market Analysis

Chicago, located in Northeastern Illinois, is the most populous city in the State of Illinois and the third largest city in the United States. With a population currently sitting at over 2.7 million, The Windy City comes in third only to New York and Los Angeles. However, while most other major cities in the nation are enjoying population growth, Chicago’s population has actually been in decline for a few consecutive years. In fact, between 2016 and 2017, the metro area saw a loss of about 13,000 people. Nevertheless, with a population of over 9.5 million, the Chicago metro area is not suffering from this loss.

While a current or future Chicago real estate investor might take this as a bad sign of the market’s health, it’s important to look at the demographic makeup of the existing population in the city. Chicago, along with the Midwestern cities of Columbus, Indianapolis, and Madison, beats the entire nation when it comes to having a population in the age range of 25-44, which is considered the “prime worker” years. So the current loss of population is not hurting the economy nor the Chicago housing market as the residents staying behind make up a key part of the workforce in the city. And it’s important to note that buying a rental property in Chicago will mean having an abundant tenant pool as about 57% of the population rents a home rather than own one according to NeighborhoodScout.

Beyond the large workforce in the city, Chicago also has an emerging economy owing to the steady job growth. At the end of 2018, the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area saw a growth rate of 1%, which was only slightly below the national rate of 1.6%. The Chicago real estate market also enjoys the environment of a diversified economy thanks to the city’s central location, making it more accessible than other major metro areas in the US. One of the leading industries in Chicago is manufacturing, specifically of food. Chicago is known as the “Candy Capital” of the nation as a large concentration of candy manufacturing companies call Chicago home. Other major industries include transportation, information technology, health services and technology, printing and publishing, finance, and insurance.

The Chicago housing market is one of the top five markets in the Midwest real estate market according to the annual PWC real estate report. Property investors from all over the nation are showing interest in buying Chicago investment properties as it’s one of the more affordable gateway markets in the US.