Development
After years of renderings, the largest private development in West Side history has a groundbreaking date, a phase-one scope, and a property tax deal. Here is the factual picture and the practical read for nearby owners.
Development
After years of renderings, the largest private development in West Side history has a groundbreaking date, a phase-one scope, and a property tax deal. Here is the factual picture and the practical read for nearby owners.
Editorial · 8 min read
Development
The permanent home of Chicago's first casino reached a major construction milestone in spring 2026, but the opening date moved again. Here is where the River West project actually stands.
Editorial · 8 min read
Development
After years of vacant towers and slow starts, Chicago's signature plan to turn LaSalle Street offices into homes is finally producing construction sites, with the first units expected to deliver in 2026.
Editorial · 8 min read
Development
The grand Lincoln Yards plan is dead, but the land did not sit still. A leaner, housing-first project called Foundry Park now has City Council approval and a fall 2026 groundbreaking target, and that shift is the real story for owners in Lincoln Park, Bucktown, and the Near North Side.
Editorial · 10 min read
Development
The Obama Presidential Center opened on Juneteenth, and the celebration is real. But for the people who already own homes in Woodlawn and South Shore, the more important question was settled years ago: who gets to stay.
Editorial · 10 min read
Development
Two years of changing anchors at The 78 have settled into a clearer picture: a soccer stadium is under construction on the riverfront site, and the research institute that once anchored the plan has moved to the West Loop instead.
Editorial · 8 min read
Policy & Programs
The proposal to convert Chicago's transfer tax into a graduated rate on high-value sales failed at the ballot. The flat structure stands, but the underlying debate over housing funding has not gone away.
Editorial · 7 min read
Policy & Programs
The expanded ordinance ends a nearly seven-decade limit on new coach houses and basement units across much of the city. The Department of Housing reported more than 30 applications in the first 12 hours.
Editorial · 7 min read
Policy & Programs
The City Council approved a new approach to building affordable housing in 2025. In 2026, the model moves from ordinance to ground, with the city calling itself the first major U.S. city to try it.
Editorial · 7 min read
Policy & Programs
Chicago passed a 16.6 billion dollar budget for 2026 that closed a roughly 1.15 billion dollar gap and, for once, held the line on the general property tax levy. The relief is real, but the math behind it is borrowed time, and homeowners are the line item every future budget will be tempted to reach for.
Editorial · 11 min read
Policy & Programs
Cook County passed a balanced $10.12 billion budget for 2026 with no new property tax, but the part owners actually feel is downstream: late bills, a stalled tax sale, and a pile of unclaimed refunds.
Editorial · 11 min read
Policy & Programs
After years of pressure to comply with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling, Illinois moved on two fronts in 2026: a postponement with paused interest, and a structural reform returning leftover equity to former owners.
Editorial · 8 min read
Market
The early-2026 data tells a consistent story: not enough homes for sale, prices still rising at a healthy clip, and more buyers competing for each listing. Here is what the numbers say and what they mean for owners.
Editorial · 8 min read
Market
Mid-2026 is the moment Chicago's housing market stopped sprinting. Rates have eased toward 6.5 percent, more homes are finally for sale, and sale times have stretched, yet demand still edges out supply. The picture is a balanced market with a thumb on the seller's side of the scale.
Editorial · 10 min read
Market
Rates did not crash and they did not spike. They settled near 6 percent, and that steady-but-elevated level is quietly reshaping who buys, who waits, and how Chicago sellers should price.
Editorial · 8 min read
Market
The 2026 triennial reassessment is rewriting the official value of every home and business in Cook County's south and west suburbs, and the owners who treat the notice as junk mail are the ones who pay for it later.
Editorial · 10 min read
Neighborhoods
The West Side neighborhood of Austin remains a focus of Chicago's place-based investment strategy. In 2026, that strategy is showing up in concrete development sites and corridor projects.
Editorial · 8 min read
Neighborhoods
One of Chicago's largest South Side redevelopments hit a critical checkpoint in 2026. For Bronzeville owners, the bigger story is the steady price momentum around it.
Editorial · 8 min read
Neighborhoods
Three years after the groundbreaking, the Bronzeville Lakefront is mostly roads, utilities, and a green-space promise. The biotech and housing that were supposed to define it are still on paper, and 2026 is the year the city wants proof.
Editorial · 10 min read
Neighborhoods
Public money is finally landing on Humboldt Park's commercial corridors, and several projects move from rendering to ribbon-cutting in 2026. The harder question is who gets to stay for it.
Editorial · 9 min read
City Life
Anyone can hand you a concert calendar. Here is the local version: the tours coming to the big rooms this summer, and the neighborhood festivals that tell you who actually lives where.
Editorial · 11 min read
City Life
A Chicago summer is best taken one neighborhood at a time. Here is how I would plan a romantic season, from the river downtown to the lakefront on the South Side, with a bias toward the locally owned places that make each block feel like itself.
Editorial · 10 min read
City Life
If you are bringing kids to Chicago this summer, skip the generic bucket list. The real city is organized by neighborhood, most of the best of it is free, and a local can tell you which block to aim for. Here is mine.
Editorial · 11 min read
City Life
Chicago does not have a single restaurant district. It has dozens, one per neighborhood, and in 2026 the most exciting cooking in the city is owner-operated and rooted in the block it sits on. Here is where a local actually eats, organized the way the city is.
Editorial · 11 min read
Home & Living
Most college shopping lists are padded with stuff that becomes clutter by October. Here is what a student in a dorm or a first Chicago apartment actually needs in 2026, what is worth the money, and what to skip.
Editorial · 11 min read
Home & Living
You bought the place, the keys are yours, and now you get to outfit it. Here is the buy list I would hand a guy setting up his first owned home in Chicago, heavy on the technology that earns its keep and honest about the gadgets that do not.
Editorial · 12 min read
Home & Living
Most housewarming gifts get used twice and then live in a closet. Here is how I shop for the people I love when they buy or move into a place, organized by type, with a bias toward the things that actually get kept.
Editorial · 11 min read
Home & Living
Welcoming a baby does not require a bigger house or a truckload of gear. It requires a short list of things that are genuinely safe, that fit a real Chicago floor plan, and that earn their square footage. Here is what I would actually buy, what I would borrow, and what I would skip.
Editorial · 12 min read
Home & Living
Renting taught you to call the landlord. Owning means you are the landlord now, so the smartest money you spend after closing goes to the boring, durable things that fix a problem at 9pm on a Sunday and the few comfort upgrades that make a house feel like yours.
Editorial · 12 min read
Reporting and analysis from the Sell Chicago Properties editorial team. Agents and partners can send a story, a recent sale, or a listing to our newsroom.
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