Average Illinois property tax bill rises $756 in 5 years

By Patrick Andriesen

08/01/2024

Homeowners in half of Illinois’ 102 counties saw their property taxes grow faster than inflation from 2018 to 2022. The median bill rose $756 in that time.

TAGS: housing, taxes

Illinois 3rd worst in U.S. for new construction

By Benjamin O'Donnell

07/30/2024

Illinois’ rate of new housing is the third lowest of any state, driving up prices for residents. Fixing that would make housing more affordable and help Illinoisans stay.

TAGS: construction, housing

Downstate areas lag Chicago, Midwest in house building permits

By Joe Tabor

07/22/2024

Out of 90 Midwestern metropolitan areas, Illinois has four in the bottom 10 for new housing per capita in 2023. Housing affordability is directly linked to getting units built.

TAGS: housing

Chicago’s affordable housing crisis can be fixed without tax hikes

By Ravi Mishra

07/18/2024

Chicago housing affordability is among the lowest in the Midwest, driven primarily by restrictive land-use policies and slow approvals. Low-income families have it worse than in other large Midwestern cities.

TAGS: housing

What does it take to get a building permit in Chicago?

By Joe Tabor

06/20/2024

Chicago lags behind other cities in housing affordability. The city’s permitting process could be holding it back.

TAGS: construction, housing

Illinois home price growth slowest in nation last year

By Bryce Hill

02/03/2020

Home price appreciation in Illinois was the slowest in the U.S. between the third quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2019, federal data showed.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicagoland, Cook County, government spending, Great Recession, home values, homeownership, household income, housing, housing market, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, income tax, Indiana, investment, JB Pritzker, Lake County, mortgage, recession, spending, Springfield, tax hikes, tax increase

State of the state: Pritzker saw worst first-year jobs numbers since Blagojevich

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill

01/27/2020

Illinois job creation lagged the national median in nearly every sector.

TAGS: 401(k), BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chicago, constitutional amendment, economic competitiveness, economic growth, fair tax, government spending, graduated income tax, housing, housing market, IDES: Illinois Department of Employment Security, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income, income growth, JB Pritzker, job creation, jobs, labor, labor force participation rate, outmigration, pensions, personal income, population, private sector, progressive income tax, public sector, retirement age, spending, spending cap, Springfield, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, U.S. Census Bureau, unemployment

Progressive income tax uncertainty likely to put brakes on Illinois’ weak housing recovery

By Bryce Hill, Jon Josko

10/09/2019

Illinois’ housing price growth remains well below the national average because of lagging demand, caused in large part by tax policies that make people hesitant to spend.

TAGS: fair tax, housing, income tax, JB Pritzker, progressive income tax, property taxes, taxes

Chicago anticipated to be nation’s weakest major housing market in 2019

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill

12/06/2018

A study by realtor.com ranks the Chicago region’s housing market slowest of 100 U.S. metro areas for 2019. That stat could be fixed, or made worse.

TAGS: Chicago, Cook County, home price index, housing, property taxes, taxes

More Chicago-area homeowners drowning in mortgage debt than in any other major city

By Amy Korte

02/09/2018

A new study shows 13 percent of Chicago-area homeowners with mortgages owed at least 25 percent more than their homes were worth.

TAGS: Chicago, housing, mortgage, property taxes, real estate