South Shore By The Numbers: Prices, Buyers, Permits

Two of the five market signals in our analysis are active in South Shore, on Chicago’s South Side lakefront: house prices and two-to-six-flat prices. Its median house sold for $172,500 in 2025, up 74 percent from 2019, and its median two-to-six-flat for $330,000, up 94 percent. Condominiums are more than a quarter of what sells there, and their median went from $52,750 to $97,650, the second-largest rise among the 37 areas with enough condominium sales to compare.

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

South Shore in the recordsfigure

Median house sale, 2025$99,000 in 2019. 149 sales in 2025.$173K
Median two-to-six-flat sale, 2025$170,000 in 2019. 128 sales in 2025.$330K
Median condominium sale, 2025$52,750 in 2019. 109 sales in 2025.$98K
Market signals activeOf five.2 of 5
Homes bought by companies, 2024–2533.1 percent in 2018–19.35.3%
Bought 2018–22 and resold within two years189 of 2,189 purchases.8.6%
Assessor valuation as a share of sale price277 sales in 2025. 83 percent with resales set aside.81%
Two-to-six-flats on the tax rolls, 20262,264 in 2006.2,197

What homes sold for

The county recorded sales of 149 houses, 128 two-to-six-flats and 109 condominiums in South Shore in 2025. The median house sold for $99,000 in 2019 and $172,500 in 2025, up 74 percent, 16th 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 $170,000 to $330,000, up 94 percent, 13th 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 $52,750 to $97,650, up 85 percent, the second-largest rise among the 37 community areas with 20 or more condominium sales in both years; citywide the rise was 26 percent.

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

Two 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 South Shore, two 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 South Shoreactive

House pricesThe median house price was 1.74 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 1.94 times its 2019 level in 2025. The bar is 1.78 times.yes
Company buyersCompanies bought 33.1 percent of homes sold in 2018–19 and 35.3 percent in 2024–25, up 2.2 points. The bar is a rise of five points.no
New-construction permitsPermits numbered four in 2018–19 and seven 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 89 in 2019 and 62 in 2025, down 30 percent. The bar is 15 percent growth, with at least 30 in 2025.no

The three signals that are not active are company buyers, permits and licenses. Companies bought 33.1 percent of the homes sold in 2018–19 and 35.3 percent in 2024–25, short of the five-point bar. New-construction permits numbered four and seven in the two periods, and first-time business licenses fell from 89 to 62. Our reading: prices in South Shore rose in all three kinds of home at once, and from a low start. The 2019 condominium median was a fifth of the citywide figure, $267,500, and the 2025 median is still under a third of the city’s $337,750.

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 35.3 percent of the 737 homes sold in South Shore in 2024 and 2025, and 33.1 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 2,189 homes bought here from 2018 through 2022, 189 were sold again by their buyer within two years, 8.6 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 2,264 two-to-six-flat parcels in South Shore in 2006 and 2,197 in 2026. Over the twenty years 130 left the class, and the largest group of those, 43, are now classed as vacant land. Another 63 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 277 houses and two-to-six-flats sold in South Shore in 2025 at 81 percent of their sale prices, at the median. Citywide the figure is 81 percent. Of those sales, 47 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 10.8 assessment appeals per 100 houses for tax year 2025, against 17.5 citywide, and 40 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 188 home-purchase loans in South Shore in 2025, and the county file shows 386 sales. The two are separate systems with different coverage and do not match sale for sale. Of the sales, 100 were for $100,000 or less, and lenders made four purchase loans that size. The records do not say how the other sales were paid for. Of the loans, 42 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 two new-construction permits in South Shore in the first half of 2025 and three in the first half of 2026. Citywide the counts were 666 and 698. Counted two years at a time, the area had four in 2018–19 and seven 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 89 in 2019 and 62 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 South Shore was: graffiti removal, 0.9 days on 329 requests, against 0.7 days citywide; potholes, 5.0 days on 1,173 requests, against 5.1 days citywide; streetlight outages, 2.9 days on 1,078 requests, against 2.5 days citywide; abandoned vehicles, 9.7 days on 2,308 requests, against 11.6 days citywide; rodent complaints, 2.9 days on 562 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 six developments with 412 units in South Shore, 23rd 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.

No L station lies inside South Shore’s boundary.

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

The Obama Presidential Center opened on June 19, 2026 in Jackson Park, north of South Shore.

The center and the renter protections debated around it: South Shore After the Obama Center: What the Data Shows and What the Law Doesn’t

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.