Chicago homebuilding lags behind other large metros

Chicago ranks in the bottom five nationally when it comes to building new homes, per the latest analysis by real estate company Redfin.

What they found: Chicago had 2.3 single-family building permits per 10,000 people in the first quarter of this year.

• That’s the fourth-fewest per capita among major U.S. metros, though home-price growth is still slower here than the national median.

Zoom out: Single-family (one to four housing units) and multifamily (five or more) building permits are up from pre-pandemic levels in most U.S. metros, Redfin found.

Yes, but: “There still aren’t enough homes to meet the pace of household creation, and we need to be more prepared when demand inevitably picks back up,” Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said in the report.

The bottom line: Ramping up new home construction could help move the market toward balance, if only a little.

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