Lawmakers punt on housing supply as prices up 48% since 2019

The state’s home prices have jumped 48% while housing for sale has plummeted.

Lawmakers did not pass a package of proposals to increase Illinois’ housing supply despite buying a home in the state having become significantly harder in the past seven years.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed a set of pro-housing reforms that would have reduced red tape and lowered the cost of building, but the General Assembly did not pass them.

Illinois housing prices have climbed 48.3% since April 2019, according to Zillow’s Home Value Index, which compares the price of similar homes across time. A home in the state that cost $195,656 in 2019 now runs $290,210.

Some communities have seen even steeper increases.

De Soto, in Southern Illinois, and Chicago suburb Ford Heights have seen home prices close to triple, while they’ve nearly doubled in North Chicago and Rockford. Check the chart below to see how your city compares.

A major culprit behind these price increases is disappearing housing inventory. All 26 Illinois metro areas Zillow tracks have fewer homes for sale now than in April 2019.

The Chicago area has been hit particularly hard, with listings dropping 55%, from 43,789 homes in 2019 to just 19,744 this year.

Ten Illinois metro areas have experienced even sharper inventory declines. Bloomington’s listings dropped nearly 75%, from 1,048 in 2019 to 276 in 2026.

Illinois has just 32% of the active housing listings it had before the pandemic, according to Realtor.com data. That puts Illinois well behind the nation, where inventory has recovered to 82% of pre-pandemic levels.

The clear path forward for Illinois is to build significantly more housing. Yet too many metro areas across the state continue to permit construction at painfully slow rates.

Developers face persistent barriers and overly restrictive rules that prevent or inflate the cost of the types of homes needed to ease the shortage. Strict zoning laws remain a major obstacle statewide.

Commonsense solutions such as higher-density housing near transit, more homes on smaller lots and accessory dwelling units await approval at both the local and state levels.

Even with adequate housing supply, however, Illinois families will continue to face pressure if the state fails to rein in its highest-in-the-nation property taxes.

Addressing both the construction barriers and the crushing tax burden is essential to making Illinois a state where more people can afford to buy and stay in a home.