CHICAGO—The recovery in single-family home prices has begun to strengthen in most areas of Cook County, according to a new study just published by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. The research center analyzed data from Cook County Recorder of Deeds and the Cook County Assessor's Office and found that prices jumped 9.3% year-over-year in the second quarter. Prices have now increased in four of the last five quarters, the researchers found, and showed particular strength in this year's second quarter, when they increased by about 7%. Still, the recession did put home prices in a deep ditch, and they remain 34% lower than at the height of the boom.

City homeowners did even better than their suburban counterparts during the second quarter, enjoying an 11.8% jump over last year, and an 8.8% increase since the first quarter.

Many neighborhoods in the metropolitan area, however, remain plagued by high rates of foreclosures. And the IHS data show that these foreclosures remain a heavy anchor. A significant share of foreclosures occur on the South and West Sides of Chicago and in parts of South and West Suburban Cook County, they note, and these neighborhoods only saw a 5.3% price increase since last year. Furthermore, a full recovery is much farther away, since their home prices declined 58.2% since the boom.

“This recovery is being led by neighborhoods with strong housing markets that have relatively stable home prices and have seen limited foreclosure activity during the course of the housing crisis,” the researchers note.

Instant Insights /

Cook County Home Prices Take Off

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