Are Home Prices Coming Down in Chicagoland?

By Ron and Tammy

The Wexler Group is a Chicago-area real estate leader with over 3,100 closed home sales and a reputation for delivering a consistent 5-Star experience by staying ahead of market trends so clients always come out ahead.

Are home prices in Chicagoland going to come down in 2026? A lot of people think this is it. But there’s not one indicator that that’s what’s going to happen.

Know your local market, not the national headlines. Somewhere between four and five million homes will change hands across the country this year. Some prices will be up, some down, some flat. But what’s happening in Austin or Phoenix doesn’t tell you what’s happening here. In Chicagoland, our best year might have been 8% to 9% appreciation. Now we’re back to a normal 2% per year. And if you go all the way back to the 1940s, home prices here have averaged about 3% annual growth. Draw a trend line from then to now, and we’re sitting right on top of it.

Price reductions don’t mean prices are dropping. This is where people get confused. During the years of 4% to 5% appreciation, agents pushed asking prices higher. Now that we’re back to 2% to 3%, those inflated prices aren’t holding. When a home gets reduced to the right price, it sells. We’ve had four homes in the last 30 days that we lowered the price on, and each sold within two days. The market is responding to correct pricing, not declining value.

Waiting is costing buyers money. People who waited two years because rates went up are now looking at homes that have risen 3% to 8%. They could have locked in the lower price and refinanced later. The price you buy at is locked in. The rate can always change.

This is a stable, predictable market. We’re not in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. Homes priced right are selling in hours or days. We just helped a young couple buy a condo downtown. They bid on seven different ones before finally winning, paying anywhere from $10,000 to $45,000 above asking. And there were others they wouldn’t touch because the asking price was too far out of line.

This could be a year you look back on. Two years from now, a lot of people are going to say, “Why didn’t I buy in 2026?” Prices here haven’t skyrocketed, which keeps them stable. A 2008-level crash was the first since the 1940s. It may not happen again in our lifetime. The same goes for 3% interest rates.

If you’re considering a move in the next two years, reach out now. Whether you’re ready to go right now, in six months, or in two years, we’ll help you get educated and lined up so that when it’s time, you feel comfortable making the move.

Watch our video above for the full breakdown, including why price reductions don’t mean what you think and what we’re expecting for the rest of the year.

Call our hotline at 708-629-5151, email ron@thewexlergroup.com, or visit thewexlergroup.com to set an appointment. We’re here to help buyers and sellers across Chicagoland and the Southwest Suburbs figure out the right timing for their situation.