Chicagoland's summer market never really slowed down. Inventory remains near record lows, prices are still climbing at a healthy clip, and well-priced homes continue to move fast. Here's what July taught us about where things stand — plus a savings window that closes this weekend.
Through August 16, Illinois' state sales tax rate on qualifying clothing, footwear, and school supplies drops from 6.25% to 1.25% — local city and county taxes still apply on top of that. Clothing and footwear items must be priced under $125 to qualify; school supplies have no price cap, and qualifying online purchases count too.
Not directly real estate, but a nice one to pass along to family, friends, or clients with kids heading back to school this week.
Last Friday's jobs report for July came in well below expectations, and it reframed how economists are reading the labor market. The apparent strength we saw earlier this year now looks more like noise than a real trend — Fed officials have described current conditions as neither loose nor tight, but treading water in a fragile balance.
This week's core inflation print landed almost exactly in line with forecasts, up 0.22% month-over-month, following a surprisingly flat reading the month before. Core prices are running about 2.5% higher than a year ago. Electronics prices jumped notably — largely a tariff-driven pass-through — while the shelter category, the one most closely tied to housing, stayed low. Gas prices eased in July but are expected to tick back up in August.
Active listings across the metro remain near record lows, and that scarcity is fueling bidding wars in popular city neighborhoods and high-demand suburbs alike. It's kept sellers firmly in control of most transactions through the summer, even as the calendar turns toward a season that's traditionally quieter.
Move-in ready homes are routinely going under contract in under a month, and price growth has held in the 6–7% year-over-year range — among the strongest we've seen in the past year. For sellers with a well-presented, competitively priced home, this remains one of the more favorable windows in recent memory. It's also a sharp contrast to the national picture, where existing home sales are still near four-year lows and prices have moved mostly sideways to lower in recent months — Chicagoland is bucking that trend.
Sellers still hold the clear advantage overall, but some flexibility is starting to show up around the edges — particularly closing cost credits, as buyers push back on listings priced well above recent comps. It's not a shift in leverage so much as sellers meeting buyers partway to keep deals moving.
With rates holding in the 6.5–6.6% range and the Fed unlikely to move rates meaningfully in either direction before fall, buyers shouldn't expect a big affordability shift from rates alone anytime soon. That makes it worth exploring local homebuyer assistance grant programs, which can meaningfully close the affordability gap for qualified buyers — especially first-timers.
