Blog

The Cook County Assessor’s Office, responsible for setting values for each of Cook County’s 1.8 million parcels, divides the county’s buildings into 107 different categories – most of them familiar: residential buildings broken out by number of stories and units, commercial buildings by type of use and height (gas stations,...

Illustrating differences in mortgage activity on both sides of Austin Boulevard

This is the second post in a series that illustrates how to use the IHS Housing Market Indicators Data Portal to explore trends and patterns in local housing markets within Cook County. The first post in this series explored how to use the Data Portal’s property sales data set. This...

This is the first post in a series that illustrates how to use housing market indicators data from the IHS Data Portal to explore trends and patterns in local housing markets within Cook County. The IHS Data Portal is a tool that the Institute developed to further connect our work...

Among the key findings from IHS’s recently released State of Rental Housing in Cook County report was that while the supply of rental units in Cook County increased between 2007 and 2011 to meet observed increases in rental demand, the gap between the supply of and the demand for rental housing affordable for lower-income...

On April 18, IHS brought together a diverse group of more than 40 housing stakeholders to DePaul’s Loop Campus to preview and discuss the findings of our 2013 State of Rental Housing in Cook County report. The event allowed us to collect insights on how our findings relate to the...

This is the third in a series of posts discussing residential vacancy in Chicago and suburban Cook County. In the first post in this series, we examined patterns of and discussed the negative outcomes associated with long-term residential vacancy and abandonment in Chicago and in suburban Cook County. Data presented...

This is the second in a series of posts discussing long-term residential vacancy in Chicago and suburban Cook County. For the first post in this series, click here. The first post in this series, Understanding vacancy: Patterns of long-term vacancy in Cook County, discussed why a residential address may become vacant and how properties that...

This is the first in a series of posts exploring patterns of residential vacancy in the City of Chicago and in suburban Cook County. This post includes a discussion of local patterns of long-term residential vacancy, some of the negative outcomes associated with it, and establishes a context in which to better...

Our mission at IHS is to provide reliable, impartial, and timely data and research that informs housing policy decisions as well as discussions about the state of housing in the Chicago region and nationally. The IHS blog is another way we connect our research and data to housing practitoners and the public and illustrate...