North Lawndale By The Numbers: Prices, Buyers, Permits

North Lawndale, on Chicago’s West Side, is one of three community areas where four of the five market signals in our analysis are active, and it reached four only on the September reading. Its median house price in 2025, $168,000 on 53 sales, is exactly 1.60 times the 2019 median, which is the bar. New-construction permits went from 27 in 2018–19 to 104 in 2024–25, and companies bought 29.2 percent of the homes sold in 2024 and 2025.

Drawn from our analyses of county and city records · sales file as updated September 15, 2026 · assembled September 30, 2026

North Lawndale in the recordsfigure

Median house sale, 2025$105,000 in 2019. 53 sales in 2025.$168K
Median two-to-six-flat sale, 2025$175,000 in 2019. 192 sales in 2025.$378K
Market signals activeOf five.4 of 5
Homes bought by companies, 2024–2521.7 percent in 2018–19.29.2%
Bought 2018–22 and resold within two years125 of 1,410 purchases.8.9%
Assessor valuation as a share of sale price245 sales in 2025. 83 percent with resales set aside.80%
Two-to-six-flats on the tax rolls, 20263,429 in 2006.3,352

What homes sold for

The county recorded sales of 53 houses, 192 two-to-six-flats and four condominiums in North Lawndale in 2025. The median house sold for $105,000 in 2019 and $168,000 in 2025, up 60 percent, 23rd among the 70 community areas with 20 or more house sales in both years. Citywide the median house went from $230,000 to $320,000, up 39 percent. The median two-to-six-flat went from $175,000 to $377,500, up 116 percent, the eighth-largest rise among the 46 community areas with 20 or more two-to-six-flat sales in both years; citywide the rise was 62 percent. Too few condominiums sold in one of the two years for a median.

Every area and year, and the rules for which sales are counted: What a Chicago Home Actually Sold For: 245,849 Deeds Since 2018, All 77 Community Areas

Four of the five market signals are active

Our gentrification-signals analysis checks five records in every community area for unusually fast change between 2018–19 and 2024–25: house prices, two-to-six-flat prices, the share of homes bought by companies, new-construction permits and new business licenses. In North Lawndale, four of the five are active. Of the 67 areas scored, three show four signals and 40 show none. A signal is a measurement of change between two periods. It does not describe the people who live in an area or say what happens next.

The five signals in North Lawndaleactive

House pricesThe median house price was 1.60 times its 2019 level in 2025. The bar is 1.60 times, from a 2019 median below the citywide $230,000.yes
Two-to-six-flat pricesThe median two-to-six-flat price was 2.16 times its 2019 level in 2025. The bar is 1.78 times.yes
Company buyersCompanies bought 21.7 percent of homes sold in 2018–19 and 29.2 percent in 2024–25, up 7.5 points. The bar is a rise of five points.yes
New-construction permitsPermits numbered 27 in 2018–19 and 104 in 2024–25. The bar is 1.5 times the earlier count, with at least eight in the later period.yes
New business licensesFirst-time licenses numbered 56 in 2019 and 43 in 2025, down 23 percent. The bar is 15 percent growth, with at least 30 in 2025.no

The missing signal is business licenses, which fell from 56 in 2019 to 43 in 2025. The house-price signal carries the least weight of the four. It rests on 53 sales and meets its bar with nothing to spare, and on the July reading, when the county had recorded 40 of those sales, the same median was $127,500 and the signal was not active. Our reading: the change in North Lawndale is firmest in two-to-six-flats, which are most of what sells there. Their median more than doubled, to $377,500 on 192 sales, and the permit count nearly quadrupled.

Every area scored, with the thresholds: Where Chicago’s Gentrification Signals Are Active: East Garfield Park, New City and North Lawndale Show Four of Five. Logan Square, Avondale and the Lower West Side Show None.

Who bought

Companies bought 29.2 percent of the 500 homes sold in North Lawndale in 2024 and 2025, and 21.7 percent of those sold in 2018 and 2019. Citywide the share was 14.2 percent in the later period. A buyer counts as a company when its name on the deed carries a marker such as LLC, Inc. or Corp.; trustees of land trusts are counted as trusts. Of the 1,410 homes bought here from 2018 through 2022, 125 were sold again by their buyer within two years, 8.9 percent. The citywide rate is 7.1 percent.

The buyer names on the deeds, and the resales, are counted here: Who Is Buying Chicago? The Buyer’s Name on 245,849 Deeds: Companies Bought 13 Percent of Homes and 46 Percent of Those Resold Within Two Years

Two-to-six-flats since 2006

The Assessor’s rolls counted 3,429 two-to-six-flat parcels in North Lawndale in 2006 and 3,352 in 2026. Over the twenty years 313 left the class, and the largest group of those, 187, are now classed as vacant land. Another 236 parcels joined the class. Citywide the count fell from 127,818 to 119,943.

Every flat parcel of 2006, followed to 2026: Chicago’s Tax Rolls Show 7,875 Fewer Two-to-Six-Flats Than in 2006. Of the 13,049 Parcels That Left the Count, 6,208 Are Now Classed as Single-Family Houses.

Valuations, appeals and mortgages

The Assessor valued the 245 houses and two-to-six-flats sold in North Lawndale in 2025 at 80 percent of their sale prices, at the median. Citywide the figure is 81 percent. Of those sales, 43 were of a home that had sold within the two years before. With those set aside the figure is 83 percent, the same as citywide. Owners filed 15.9 assessment appeals per 100 houses for tax year 2025, against 17.5 citywide, and 48 percent of those appeals won.

Valuations against sale prices, area by area: Chicago Houses and Two-to-Six-Flats Sold in 2025 Were Valued at 81 Percent of Their Sale Prices. Those Resold Within Two Years, at 60 Percent.

Appeals per 100 houses, mapped: Nearly Half of Lincoln Park’s Houses Appealed Their Property Tax Assessments. On the Southeast Side, About One in 24 Did.

Federal mortgage records show 156 home-purchase loans in North Lawndale in 2025, and the county file shows 249 sales. The two are separate systems with different coverage and do not match sale for sale. Of the sales, 28 were for $100,000 or less, and lenders made one purchase loan that size. The records do not say how the other sales were paid for. Of the loans, 37 were marked as not for the borrower’s own occupancy.

The lending records and their limits: At Least 1,532 Chicago Homes Sold for $100,000 or Less in 2025. Lenders Wrote 289 Mortgages That Size.

Permits and licenses

The city issued 35 new-construction permits in North Lawndale in the first half of 2025 and 27 in the first half of 2026. Citywide the counts were 666 and 698. Counted two years at a time, the area had 27 in 2018–19 and 104 in 2024–25. A permit is an approval to build and is not a finished building.

Every permit of the half-year, by area: Chicago Issued 698 New-Construction Permits in the First Half of 2026. Here’s Where They Went.

First-time business licenses numbered 56 in 2019 and 43 in 2025. Citywide they fell from 7,464 to 6,503. The file counts licenses issued and does not show whether a business opened or stayed open.

The citywide count: Chicago Licenses 1,000 Fewer New Businesses a Year Than Before the Pandemic. The Gap Is Downtown.

City services

For requests to 311 created from January 2024 through June 2026, the median time to close in North Lawndale was: graffiti removal, 0.6 days on 1,783 requests, against 0.7 days citywide; potholes, 16.8 days on 651 requests, against 5.1 days citywide; streetlight outages, 2.9 days on 1,144 requests, against 2.5 days citywide; abandoned vehicles, 13.0 days on 2,019 requests, against 11.6 days citywide; rodent complaints, 3.0 days on 1,213 requests, against 3.6 days citywide. A closed request is the city’s record that it closed the request. It does not confirm the repair.

Every request type and area, with the method: Chicago on the Clock: We Timed 793,774 Service Requests

Affordable-rental inventory and the L

The city’s affordable-rental inventory lists 35 developments with 1,193 units in North Lawndale, seventh by units among the 66 community areas on the list. The inventory is the city’s own list of developments its programs support. It was last updated December 30, 2024 and is partial by its own description.

Our count of that inventory is in a piece that also covers the state law barring rent control: New York City’s Rent Board Set 2026-27 Stabilized Increases at Zero. Illinois Law Bars Chicago From Controlling Private Rents.

Four L stations stand inside North Lawndale’s boundary. Average weekday entries in January through May of 2019 and of 2026, with the later figure as a share of the earlier: Kedzie, on the Pink Line, 968 and 729 (75 percent); Central Park, on the Pink Line, 1,061 and 726 (68 percent); Pulaski, on the Pink Line, 994 and 665 (67 percent); Kostner, on the Pink Line, 464 and 266 (57 percent). Systemwide the figure is 62 percent.

Every station against its own 2019 count: Only Two L Stations Are Busier Than Before the Pandemic. Neither Is Downtown.

How this page is built

Every figure on this page is read from the published output of the analysis linked beside it, as those stood on September 30, 2026. Nothing here is measured separately, and each linked analysis states its own sources, periods and limits. The sale prices and buyer shares come from the county’s sales file as updated September 15, 2026. The county is still adding sales dated 2025, and those figures get another reading in January 2027. This page reports what the records show and takes no position on where anyone ought to live.

Assembled by KCM Desk from the analyses linked above. Published September 30, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.