(The Center Square) – Illinois home prices have jumped by nearly 47% over the last six years as an ongoing housing shortage continues to build. Mark Glennon, executive editor of Wirepoints, argues Illinois is in need of a complete makeover when it comes to dealing with its ongoing housing shortage.
Since 2018, a Zillow Home Value Index report highlights the ongoing changes, including a typical home valued at $197,000 back then now selling at $286,000, effectively pricing many families out of neighborhoods that were once affordably open to them.
“If people aren’t building new homes or aren’t putting their homes up for sale and there’s no volatility in the market, that reduces supply and drives up prices,” Glennon told The Center Square. “Realtors have been saying for the past few years, ‘as prices have risen, they just don’t have the supply online.’”
Estimates are the state will need at least 227,000 new housing units over the next five years to simply keep up with demand. While the national average for active housing units before the pandemic stands at 90%, Realtor.com reports Illinois has just 39% of its active units.
“We just got to make it easier for businesses and more inviting to Illinois,” Glennon said. “I really think it’s a matter of making new construction friendly to builders, especially apartment builders. You hear the big apartment builders and owners constantly complaining about the bureaucracy that they have to encounter for building new things.”
Glennon lists conditions like high taxes and added obligations placed on employers such as overtime pay and family leave as things that keep Illinois from being viewed as more business-friendly.
“Those things drive employers,” he said. “That’s an important place to start, I think.”
Since 2018, all 26 Illinois metro areas have seen their housing inventory decline.
