Blog
Helping Logan Square Residents Cope with Neighborhood Change
Projects like the 606 Trail in Chicago need safeguards that ensure diverse communities. New amenities in an older neighborhood can be a blessing and a curse. Just ask the West Chelsea residents who live near the New York City’s High Line Park, or residents of the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago who live near...
Using Housing Data to Pinpoint a Neighborhood’s Health
The housing crash may have been national, but the recovery is still local. Our updated Housing Price Index, released today, underscores how national data can mask the hyperlocal story of continued struggle—especially in the area of building economically healthy neighborhoods--and how local data can support more targeted development strategies. By most indications, housing prices are cooling off...
Who Will be Hardest Hit by the Chicago Property Tax Increase? A Q&A with the Institute for Housing Studies' Geoff Smith
As Chicagoans brace for a property tax increase to fill the city’s budget hole and the rising pressure of unfunded pensions, we sat down with the our executive director, Geoff Smith, to get his insights on which neighborhoods will feel the pain the most, and why. IHS: It's official. Chicagoans will see their property taxes...
Is Chicago a Bellwether for Mortgage Lending Trends?
When even Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, can’t get a loan to refinance his mortgage, you know conditions are tight. Bernanke was turned down in seeking to refinance his mortgage in 2014, and though the mortgage industry has eased up somewhat since ...
As Home Market Stabilizes, Housing Counselors Change Focus
Advice on foreclosures gives way to helping first-time homebuyers avoid the financial mistakes of the mortgage crisis. For years, housing counseling agencies provided critical assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. But as our 2014 Housing Market Conditions Report reveals, foreclosures in the Chicago area have dropped significantly. Foreclosure rates in...
In Chicago, an Inviting New Trail Brings Urban Promise, and a Few Misgivings
After two years of construction, Chicago’s new 606 Trail opened to a flood of joggers, bikers, dogs, and strollers in early June. Once an abandoned railroad line littered with debris and even an old piano, the trail stretches 2.7 miles through the city’s West Side. Four parks (two more are coming) extend from...
Can a Bank be a Good Neighbor?
The aftermath of the housing crisis has seen major institutional investors scooping up thousands of foreclosed or distressed homes in the Chicago region and throughout the country. Since 2012, HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have sold more than 130,000 troubled mortgages, the vast majority to private equity firms and hedge...
Years Later, Some Chicago Home Prices Are Stuck in 2000
Property has been one of the surest ways to create wealth for centuries, as the economist Thomas Piketty makes clear in his book “Capital in the 21st Century.” More so than hard work, land ownership has allowed people to accumulate enough wealth to pass on to the next generation. In the United States, where...
How Far Did They Fall? A Look at Housing Prices From Boom to Bust in Communities Across the Chicago Metro Area
In 1625, a Dutch carpenter named Pieter Fransz built a house in Amsterdam’s new Herengracht neighborhood. “As the Dutch Republic rose to global power in the 1620s,” wrote Prakash Loungani for the International Monetary Fund, “the price of the house doubled in less than a...
Cook County House Price Index Highlights Persistent Divide Between Neighborhoods
CHICAGO — As house prices rebound in all communities across Cook County, the divide between areas that are thriving and those that are struggling persists, according to the May 13 release of the Cook County House Price Index from the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. This release of the Index tracts quarterly...
