Near West Side By The Numbers: Prices, Buyers, Permits

The Near West Side, directly west of the Loop, had 53 new-construction permits in the first half of 2026, the most of any Chicago community area, and none of the five market signals in our analysis is active there. Its median house price rose 16 percent from 2019 to 2025, the smallest rise among the 70 areas with enough sales to compare.

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

Second reading and correction, September 30, 2026: this page was first published August 2, 2026. Its headline called the area the first-half-2026 permit leader with no signals active. That holds on the second reading; the sale figures behind the page have moved. On the county’s sales file as updated September 15, 2026, the 2025 median house price, printed as $615,000 on 48 sales, is $622,500 on 72; the 2025 median two-to-six-flat price, printed as $615,000 on 35 sales, is $682,000 on 45; the 2025 median condominium price, printed as $355,000 on 303 sales, is $370,000 on 376; the company share of purchases, printed as 5.0 percent for 2018–19 and 8.4 percent for 2024–25, is 4.6 and 8.1 percent with trustees of land trusts counted as trusts.

The Near West Side in the recordsfigure

Median house sale, 2025$538,250 in 2019. 72 sales in 2025.$623K
Median two-to-six-flat sale, 2025$580,000 in 2019. 45 sales in 2025.$682K
Median condominium sale, 2025$324,450 in 2019. 376 sales in 2025.$370K
Market signals activeOf five.0 of 5
Homes bought by companies, 2024–254.6 percent in 2018–19.8.1%
Bought 2018–22 and resold within two years84 of 3,403 purchases.2.5%
Assessor valuation as a share of sale price117 sales in 2025. 85 percent with resales set aside.85%
Two-to-six-flats on the tax rolls, 20261,175 in 2006.1,208

What homes sold for

The county recorded sales of 72 houses, 45 two-to-six-flats and 376 condominiums in the Near West Side in 2025. The median house sold for $538,250 in 2019 and $622,500 in 2025, up 16 percent, the smallest rise 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 $580,000 to $682,000, up 18 percent, the smallest rise among the 46 community areas with 20 or more two-to-six-flat sales in both years; citywide the rise was 62 percent. The median condominium went from $324,450 to $370,000, up 14 percent, 34th among the 37 community areas with 20 or more condominium sales in both years; citywide the rise was 26 percent. The 2025 figure rests on 45 two-to-six-flat sales, few enough that a handful of sales can move it.

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 five market signals is 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 the Near West Side, none of the five 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 the Near West Sideactive

House pricesCounts only where the 2019 median house price was below the citywide $230,000. Here it was $538,250.no
Two-to-six-flat pricesThe median two-to-six-flat price was 1.18 times its 2019 level in 2025. The bar is 1.78 times.no
Company buyersCompanies bought 4.6 percent of homes sold in 2018–19 and 8.1 percent in 2024–25, up 3.5 points. The bar is a rise of five points.no
New-construction permitsPermits numbered 289 in 2018–19 and 164 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 449 in 2019 and 351 in 2025, down 22 percent. The bar is 15 percent growth, with at least 30 in 2025.no

Why is no signal active in the area that leads the city in permits? The signals measure change, and this area started high. Its 2019 house median, $538,250, was more than twice the citywide figure, so the price signal does not apply. Its permits fell between the two pooled periods, from 289 to 164, and its first-time business licenses fell from 449 to 351. Our reading: the Near West Side is building at a high level that is lower than its own recent past, and the signals are built to find the opposite, fast change from a low start.

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 8.1 percent of the 1,016 homes sold in the Near West Side in 2024 and 2025, and 4.6 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. One condominium building in the Near West Side, bought in bulk since 2018, no longer appears on the tax rolls as a condominium. The parcel nearest it is now classed as an apartment building or a two-to-six-flat, the pattern a deconversion leaves in the records. Of the 3,403 homes bought here from 2018 through 2022, 84 were sold again by their buyer within two years, 2.5 percent. The citywide rate is 7.1 percent, and this is the lowest rate among the 73 areas with at least 300 purchases.

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

Condominium buildings bought in bulk, and the rules for selling one whole: Chicago’s Condo Deconversion Pattern: 69 Buildings Bought in Bulk Since 2018 Left the Tax Rolls as Condominiums, the Nearest Parcels Now Classed as Apartment Buildings or Two-to-Six-Flats

Two-to-six-flats since 2006

The Assessor’s rolls counted 1,175 two-to-six-flat parcels in the Near West Side in 2006 and 1,208 in 2026. Over the twenty years 145 left the class, and the largest group of those, 74, are now classed as single-family houses. Another 178 parcels joined the class. That makes the Near West Side one of 25 community areas with more two-to-six-flats than in 2006; the citywide 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 117 houses and two-to-six-flats sold in the Near West Side in 2025 at 85 percent of their sale prices, at the median. Citywide the figure is 81 percent. Of those sales, seven were of a home that had sold within the two years before. With those set aside the figure is 85 percent, against 83 percent citywide. Owners of 25.4 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 37 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 779 home-purchase loans in the Near West Side in 2025, and the county file shows 493 sales. The two are separate systems with different coverage and do not match sale for sale. Of the loans, 70 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 31 new-construction permits in the Near West Side in the first half of 2025 and 53 in the first half of 2026, the most of any community area. Citywide the counts were 666 and 698. Counted two years at a time, the area had 289 in 2018–19 and 164 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 449 in 2019 and 351 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 the Near West Side was: graffiti removal, the same day on 11,484 requests, against 0.7 days citywide; potholes, 6.7 days on 3,031 requests, against 5.8 days citywide; streetlight outages, 2.5 days on 1,991 requests, against 2.5 days citywide; abandoned vehicles, 11.5 days on 1,468 requests, against 11.6 days citywide; rodent complaints, 2.9 days on 1,389 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 35 developments with 1,958 units in the Near West Side, second 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.

Ten L stations stand inside the Near West Side’s boundary. The nine with counts for both periods together averaged 28,988 weekday entries in January through May 2019 and 19,350 in the same months of 2026, 67 percent of the earlier figure. The busiest, UIC-Halsted, on the Blue Line, averaged 4,009. Systemwide the figure is 62 percent. Morgan, on the Green and Pink Lines, is one of two stations in the system above its 2019 count: 3,424 weekday entries then and 3,634 now. Damen, on the Green Line, has no 2019 count in the file.

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. First published August 2, 2026; rebuilt October 1, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.