Real Estate

National mortgage rates have surpassed 5% — making them the highest in more than a decade, Axios' Brianna Crane reports.

Why it matters: Low rates made buying in a seller's market more affordable during the pandemic.

The median home sales price last month in Chicago was $325,000, so we wanted to see what you can get below that price point in the local real estate market.

• Here's a comparison of four homes that recently sold for around $300K in different area neighborhoods.

It's no secret that Chicago is historically one of the most segregated cities in the country. A new report shows that not much has changed.

Why it matters: Data from FiveThirtyEight and ABC News shows that Black residents are still living in the same neighborhoods deemed "hazardous" by the redlining mapmakers of the 1930s.

With sky-high home prices, many renters are renewing their leases and staying put for now, according to the most recent report from housing site Rent.com.

Why it matters: The demand for apartments — which in December hit an all-time high of 97.5% occupancy nationwide — has pushed up rental prices in most parts of the country.

• Rent increases in Chicago and statewide largely follow national trends.

Last year we looked at the top destinations for departing Chicagoans, many of whom left us for Denver, Dallas and Seattle.

• Anecdotally, we know four separate Chicago families who just moved to Portugal.

We're zooming in today on just the opposite: places people are leaving in order to move to Chicago, based on Realtor.com's search traffic in the fourth quarter of 2021.

2022 looks to be a big year for development — mega-development.

Why it matters: New projects on the North and South sides of Chicago could change the way we look (and live) for years to come.

Home prices in 12 Cook County communities more than doubled over the past 20 years.

• The rises happened in a county where all 33 submarkets saw home values increase by at least 42%.

Chicago-area suburbs have always been known as great places to live. A new study confirms it.

• Storage marketplace StorageCafe broke down the best 100 suburbs in the country that offer city-like living and 20 of them surround Chicago.