Institute for Housing Studies

A map of parcels and streets in West Town, Chicago. The parcels are colored with various shades of orange and blue.

🚨 The Cook County Housing Stock Composition has been updated! Using our interactive map, users can explore the housing stock of City of Chicago and suburban Cook County.

Check it out here: housingstudies.org/releases/com...

A courtyard apartment building in Chicago, framed by verdant trees.

Our newest blog presents the latest data on changes in the city's rental housing stock and the demographic and socioeconomic makeup of renters in advance of our upcoming State of Rental in Chicago report.

Explore the data here: housingstudies.org/blog/rental-...

A lot of interesting stuff here from @housingstudies.bsky.social, but here's an [eyes emoji] one: Chicago has gained 176,000 households between 2012 and 2023, growing from almost exactly 1 million to 1.18 million housingstudies.org/blog/rental-...

South suburban Markham moves to cut down on single-family rentals The south Cook County town's third-term mayor told Crain's he believes rental housing is important, but "homeownership is more important."

The role of investors in single-family homebuying markets is changing, and some cities are crafting new policies in response.

IHS data and expertise helps tell the story in a new article about south suburban Markham: www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-...

You can explore housing stock data for Chicago Community Areas, Wards, and other geographies in our data portal, recently updated with data from 2024. Check it out here:

www.housingstudies.org/data-portal/...

💡 Did you know that South Lawndale has the highest share of units in 2 to 4 unit buildings of any Community Area in Chicago? As of 2024, over 70% of the neighborhood’s housing units are in these buildings.

A row of houses in Elgin, Illinois.

Additionally, IHS used the data to analyze current affordability conditions throughout the region. This analysis illustrates how key indicators for homeowners, new homebuyers, and rental affordability vary across geographies.

Read our analysis here: housingstudies.org/releases/hou...

Local Housing Profiles Explore data on housing supply, demand, and affordability for northeastern Illinois' counties, municipalities, and Chicago community areas.

Curious about housing in your community? Check out our Local Housing Profiles, produced by IHS and CMAP. These fact sheets contain housing market data for municipalities throughout Northeastern Illinois and community areas in Chicago.

Explore the data here: cmap.illinois.gov/data/land-us...

A graph showing rising house prices in Cook County.

Our Cook County House Price Index has been updated through the fourth quarter of 2024! The data indicate that prices throughout the county are consistently growing.

Explore the data here: housingstudies.org/releases/coo...

Chicago rents are climbing fast. For many, there’s nowhere left to go. | WBEZ Letonia Robinson has spent two years searching for an affordable home. She’s not alone — rents in Chicago are rising faster than incomes, squeezing thousands of families.

Chicago’s supply of affordable rental homes is shrinking. One contributing factor is the disappearance of 2 to 4 unit buildings throughout the city.

IHS research on these buildings helps explain why rents are climbing:
www.wbez.org/interactive/...

Read the report from IHS and the Community Land Trust Task Force here: housingstudies.org/releases/com...

A northwest-side community land trust tries to build a six-flat If Here to Stay succeeds at building "missing middle" housing, the development could be a model for Chicago’s emerging land trust ecosystem.

“… a report from the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies and Illinois’s first land trust task force … identifies consistent funding as the biggest barrier to the future success of land trust.”

Read more about Here to Stay Land Trust here: chicagoreader.com/news/land-tr...

A row of houses in Chicago. An under-construction vacant lot is in the foreground.

In 2024, the State of Illinois convened a task force to evaluate ways to help Community Land Trusts provide permanently affordable housing. Read the Task Force’s final report here: housingstudies.org/releases/com...