Armour Square By The Numbers: Prices, Buyers, Permits

Cermak-Chinatown, the Red Line station in Armour Square on Chicago’s South Side, averaged 4,024 weekday entries in January through May 2026, against 3,660 in the same months of 2019. It and Morgan, on the Green and Pink Lines, are the two stations in the system above their 2019 counts; systemwide, weekday entries were 62 percent of 2019’s. Too few homes sell in Armour Square to compare prices: 50 sales in 2025, and fewer than 20 of each type in 2019.

Drawn from our analyses of county and city records · sales file as updated September 15, 2026 · assembled October 1, 2026

Armour Square in the recordsfigure

Market signals activeOf three that could be measured.0 of 3
Homes bought by companies, 2024–2516.2 percent in 2018–19.13.7%
Bought 2018–22 and resold within two years11 of 304 purchases.3.6%
Two-to-six-flats on the tax rolls, 2026694 in 2006.690

What homes sold for

The county recorded sales of 23 houses, 12 two-to-six-flats and 15 condominiums in Armour Square in 2025. Too few houses, two-to-six-flats and 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

None of the three market signals that could be measured is active, and two could not be measured

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 Armour Square, three of the five could be measured and none of those is 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 Armour Squareactive

House pricesFewer than 20 house sales in 2019 or in 2025, too few to measure.n/a
Two-to-six-flat pricesFewer than 20 sales of two-to-six-flats in 2019 or in 2025, too few to measure.n/a
Company buyersCompanies bought 16.2 percent of homes sold in 2018–19 and 13.7 percent in 2024–25, down 2.5 points. The bar is a rise of five points.no
New-construction permitsPermits numbered 24 in 2018–19 and 27 in 2024–25. The bar is 1.5 times the earlier count, with at least eight in the later period.no
New business licensesFirst-time licenses numbered 52 in 2019 and 53 in 2025, up 2 percent. The bar is 15 percent growth, with at least 30 in 2025.no

Which way did the area’s other station go? Sox-35th averaged 2,929 weekday entries against 3,915 in 2019, 75 percent of the earlier figure. Companies bought 13.7 percent of the homes sold in 2024–25, against 16.2 percent in 2018–19, on about a hundred purchases in each period. Our reading: Armour Square’s L traffic splits, the Chinatown stop above its 2019 count and Sox-35th at three-quarters of it.

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 13.7 percent of the 102 homes sold in Armour Square in 2024 and 2025, and 16.2 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 304 homes bought here from 2018 through 2022, 11 were sold again by their buyer within two years, 3.6 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 694 two-to-six-flat parcels in Armour Square in 2006 and 690 in 2026. Over the twenty years 34 left the class, and the largest group of those, 12, are now classed as single-family houses. Another 30 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

Owners of 24.7 of every 100 houses appealed their assessment to the Board of Review for tax year 2025, counting each house once, against 17.5 citywide, and 38 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 46 home-purchase loans in Armour Square in 2025, and the county file shows 50 sales. The two are separate systems with different coverage and do not match sale for sale. Of the loans, 11 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 four new-construction permits in Armour Square in the first half of 2025 and ten in the first half of 2026. Citywide the counts were 666 and 698. Counted two years at a time, the area had 24 in 2018–19 and 27 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 52 in 2019 and 53 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 1, 2024 through June 15, 2026, the median time to close in Armour Square was: graffiti removal, 0.6 days on 2,885 requests, against 0.7 days citywide; potholes, 3.0 days on 482 requests, against 5.8 days citywide; streetlight outages, 1.7 days on 602 requests, against 2.5 days citywide; abandoned vehicles, 5.9 days on 417 requests, against 11.6 days citywide; rodent complaints, 2.1 days on 631 requests, against 3.1 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: A Chicago 311 Garbage-Cart Request Took a Median 15.9 Days to Close, a Pothole 5.8 and a Traffic-Signal-Out Report 3 Hours: 883,837 Requests Timed by Community Area

Affordable-rental inventory and the L

The city’s affordable-rental inventory lists one development with 147 units in Armour Square, 41st 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.

Two L stations stand inside Armour Square’s boundary. Average weekday entries in January through May of 2019 and of 2026, with the later figure as a share of the earlier: Cermak-Chinatown, on the Red Line, 3,660 and 4,024 (110 percent); Sox-35th, on the Red Line, 3,915 and 2,929 (75 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 October 1, 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 October 7, 2026; rebuilt October 1, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.