Chicago’s Top Growing Cities

Do you want to know how much your city’s population has changed in the 10 year period between 2000 and 2010? Chicago Real Estate Forum recently published an infographic showing the population growth for some of Chicago’s top cities according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

”An infographic is a great tool to take a large amount of data and put it into a graphic image that you can actually understand. Anyone can easily look at this infographic and discern how Chicago's population has grown over the past 10 years,” said Mitch Levinson, publisher of Chicago Real Estate Forum and managing partner of mRELEVANCE.

According to the data, the cities that grew the most between 2000 and 2010 are Aurora, Joliet, Plainfield, Homer Glen and Huntley. Aurora grew by more than 54,000 residents in the 10 year period, while Joliet grew by more than 41,000 people. Plainfield and Homer Glen both saw an increase of more than 24,000 residents, and Huntley grew by almost 19,000 residents. Other large cities with a high rate of population growth included Elgin, Naperville, Waukegan, Evanston and Bolingbrook.

Overall, Chicago saw a massive population increase in the Southwest suburbs and a relative decrease in the near Northwest.

The infographic was designed by Marketing RELEVANCE, a marketing, communication and interactive agency with offices in both Chicago and Atlanta.

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More Chicago Homebuyers Returning to the Market

More Chicagoland homes were sold last month than in any other month over the past five years.

According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, home sales in the Chicago area rose 28.5 percent in August compared to the same month the previous year. The 9,240 homes sold last month marked the best month for sales volume around Chicagoland since 9,733 homes were sold in August of 2007.

Home values are still falling, and this helps increase the number of home sales. The median price for metro Chicago real estate for sale last month was $170,000, a 3.8 percent drop from the $176,750 average in August 2011. Still, values are rebounding, and the median price for a home in the Chicago area is now $30,000 higher than the $140,000 median price recorded in January of this year.

The city of Chicago not only posted a 23.6 percent year-over-year increase in home sales last month, but the median price of a home sold in Chicago also went up, increasing 3.9 percent from $192,500 in August 2011 to $200,000 in August 2012.

Throughout the entire state of Illinois, home sales rose 23.7 percent in year-over-year results, which have improved for 14 straight months, but the median home price was $147,000, which is a drop of 0.7 percent from $148,000 in August 2011.

The National Association of REALTORS® also reports that U.S. home sales rose 7.8 percent last month to the highest level since May of 2010 due to the federal home buyer’s tax credit incentive.

“The housing market is steadily recovering with consistent increases in both home sales and median prices,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “More buyers are taking advantage of excellent housing affordability conditions.”