The Downtown Market
Downtown Chicago's ownership market — transaction data, ownership costs, price trends, and property type breakdown across all seven neighborhoods. The baseline everything else on this site is measured against. Updated quarterly.
Data current through Q3 2026 — updated quarterlyWhat downtown is made of
All of downtown's 587 tracked complexes are about half highrise: 297 towers, alongside 169 midrises, 66 townhome communities, and 55 lowrises. Midrises, at 29%, are concentrated in the West Loop and South Loop, while the Loop, New Eastside, Streeterville, and Gold Coast are mostly towers. The South Loop also holds the largest share of townhomes downtown-wide. Those differences shape everything below, from monthly costs to price per square foot.
All of downtown recorded 8,631 sales over the past two years. One- and two-bedrooms account for about three of every four (35% and 41%). Three-bedrooms make up 16%, while studios (under 5%) and four-bedroom-plus homes (under 3%) trade rarely enough that a few sales can swing their figures in either direction. That's worth keeping in mind when reading the smallest and largest sizes in the tables below.
What it costs to own, across downtown
| Unit Size | Monthly Cost to Own | ↑/↓ vs. Prior Year |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,940 | ↑ $207 |
| 1BR | $2,860 | ↑ $322 |
| 2BR | $4,535 | ↑ $575 |
| 3BR | $8,793 | ↑ $783 |
| 4BR+ | $13,369 | ↑ $186 |
Monthly Cost to Own is estimated as principal + interest + monthly assessment + property tax. Figures assume 20% down, 30-year fixed mortgage at 7.60% (Q3 2026). Assessment and tax figures reflect medians from trailing 12 months of closed sales in the downtown market. Co-ops excluded. Illustrations for comparison only — not quotes, guarantees, or loan commitments. Insurance is not included. Actual costs vary by building, unit, and borrower profile.
Owning across all of downtown costs more than it did the prior period at every size, and higher mortgage interest rates are the main reason. A one-bedroom runs about $2,860 a month and a two-bedroom about $4,535, up $322 and $575. At 7.60%, up from 6.36% the prior period, the rate change accounts for roughly 60% to 85% of the increase for studios through three-bedrooms; higher prices, assessments, and taxes add the rest. Put another way, a buyer with the same monthly mortgage budget can now borrow about 12% less.
Four-bedroom-plus homes barely moved, at about $13,369 a month (+$186), because a lower median price offset more than $1,000 a month from higher mortgage interest rates. Assessments are the cost to watch: in the same buildings they rose about 4.5% per square foot, and roughly one building in five raised them more than 10%, while property taxes held about flat. For buyers and sellers alike, most of these sales were agreed before rates climbed in September, so the effect on prices hasn't shown up yet.
Median Sale Price by Unit Size
| Unit Size | Median Sale Price | TTM Change |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $200,000 | ↑ 3.4% |
| 1BR | $305,000 | ↑ 5.9% |
| 2BR | $499,000 | ↑ 7.3% |
| 3BR | $990,000 | ↑ 0.9% |
| 4BR+ | $1,550,000 | ↓ 8.1% |
| All units | $435,000 | ↑ 3.6% |
The median price per square foot across all of downtown rose to $386, from $367 the prior period, a gain of about 5%. That isn't just pricier homes selling: in the same buildings, price per square foot rose about 4% to 5%, so the same homes are worth more. The pace has eased, though. Most of the gain came from late 2025 through spring 2026, and sales closed from July through September added little. Values rose over the past year; the climb has slowed, not reversed.
Every size but the largest rose. Two-bedrooms led at $499,000 (+7.3%), followed by one-bedrooms at $305,000 (+5.9%) and studios at $200,000 (+3.4%), while three-bedrooms held near $990,000 (+0.9%). The typical home across all of downtown sold for $435,000, up 3.6%. Four-bedroom-plus fell 8.1% to $1,550,000, but that reflects which homes sold: price per square foot at that size rose slightly. Counting three- and four-bedroom-plus homes together, the median rose 3.8%.
How property type affects cost and price
Price per square foot now sits at essentially the same level across property types: lowrises at $390, highrises at $388, townhomes at $381, and midrises at $373, all within about 4.5% of one another. That spread is smaller than the price difference between two units in the same tower by floor or view, so the type of building alone doesn't set the price. Midrises posted the largest gain over the past year, rising to $373 from $346 the prior period.
Monthly costs vary more by property type than price per square foot does, mostly because assessments differ. A highrise two-bedroom runs about $4,630 a month, a townhome $4,371, a midrise $4,179, and a lowrise $3,909; the highrise premium pays for staff and amenities. The highrise four-bedroom-plus figure jumped to $19,136 from $14,973 at the last update, but that's mostly which homes sold plus higher mortgage interest rates, and that median price is actually down from the prior period. Midrise studios had too few sales to show.
What aggregate data can't tell you
Aggregate figures absorb outliers rather than explain them. A building with unusual reserve fund exposure, a neighborhood undergoing rapid change, or a unit type with outsized recent activity will not surface here — it surfaces at the neighborhood and building level.
Form categories are broad. A 1999 highrise and a 2018 highrise both count as highrise. Age, mechanical condition, and association financial health vary enormously within any form category.
Cost estimates are illustrations. The Monthly Cost to Own figures on this page use market-median assessment figures. Individual buildings can deviate significantly — both above and below — depending on assessment structure, special assessments, and reserve funding status.
Price/SF has a ceiling as a comparison tool. Two units with identical Price/SF can have entirely different true costs once monthly assessments, taxes, and carrying costs are factored in. The neighborhood pages go one level deeper. Building pages go deeper still.
The neighborhood pages cover each of the seven downtown neighborhoods individually — with data specific to that geography, context for what the numbers mean, and direct comparison to the downtown benchmarks on this page.
The data has a ceiling. The conversation doesn't.
Aggregate benchmarks tell you where the market is. They don't tell you where your specific situation sits within it — whether you're calibrating a purchase budget, pressure-testing a list price, or simply trying to understand what the market is doing before making a move.