Northern Illinois Housing Market Update - February 2026

Northern Illinois home prices continued to rise in February even as sales activity slowed and available inventory tightened. Across detached and attached homes combined, closed sales fell 7.9% from a year earlier while inventory declined 9.3% and months supply dropped to 1.6. The combined median sales price increased 6.0% to $325,000, average market time rose to 65 days, and sellers received 96.9% of original list price on average.

Median Sales Price -- Trailing 12 Months

Pricing and Value

Metric	Detached	Attached
Average Sales Price	$421,306 (+8% YoY)	$370,673 (+0.2% YoY)
Housing Affordability Index	117 (0% YoY)	114 (+1.8% YoY)
Median Sales Price	$340,000 (+6.3% YoY)	$305,000 (+5.2% YoY)

Market Speed and Competition

Metric	Detached	Attached
Average % of Original List Price Received	96.4% (-0.4 percentage points YoY)	97.9% (-0.3 percentage points YoY)
Average Market Time	65 days (+8.3% YoY)	65 days (+3.2% YoY)

Homes for Sale -- Trailing 12 Months

Months Supply -- Trailing 12 Months

Supply Snapshot

Metric	Detached	Attached
Homes for Sale	10,023 (-9.8% YoY)	4,480 (-8.3% YoY)
Months Supply	1.6 (-6.7% YoY)	1.5 (-7.9% YoY)

Market Activity

Metric	Detached	Attached
Closed Sales	4,048 (-8% YoY)	2,067 (-7.6% YoY)
New Listings	7,202 (-1.4% YoY)	3,899 (-5.8% YoY)
Under Contract	5,314 (+0.4% YoY)	2,867 (-1.4% YoY)

What This Means for Sellers

• Inventory remained limited, falling 9.8% for detached homes and 8.3% for attached homes, with only 1.6 and 1.5 months of supply respectively.
• Prices were still moving higher: the detached median rose 6.3% to $340,000 and the attached median increased 5.2% to $305,000.
• Homes took longer to secure an accepted offer, with market time reaching 65 days in both segments, so pricing and presentation still matter even in a low-inventory market.
• Sellers received 96.4% of original list price for detached homes and 97.9% for attached homes on average, both slightly below the prior year.

What This Means for Buyers

• Buyers had fewer active homes to choose from than a year earlier, and supply remained well below two months in both property segments.
• Longer market times may create more room to evaluate some listings, but the broad market still showed rising median prices.
• Attached-home affordability improved 1.8% while detached affordability was unchanged, although attached inventory and new listings both declined.
• Average sale-to-original-list-price ratios below 100% suggest some negotiating room existed, but conditions varied by property and location.

Deeper Market Data

The February slowdown extended beyond completed sales. Combined new listings declined 3.0% and contracts slipped 0.3%, while year-to-date closed sales were down 11.3%, new listings were down 4.7%, and contracts were down 3.2%. Even with fewer transactions, the year-to-date combined median price increased 4.9% to $320,000 and the average price rose 3.3%. Detached and attached homes also showed different price patterns: detached average sales price increased 8.0% for the month, while the attached average was nearly flat at a 0.2% gain. The combination of lower inventory, slower sales, longer market times, and continued price growth points to a market that remained supply-constrained but more selective than the prior year.