Why is Chicago's real estate market so affordable??

[TBideon]

That's just not true, and you can always localize crime in cities from the new yorks to the garys to the londons to the baghdads. There is still something broken in Chicago more so than peer American cities. Maybe we accept or excuse crime on some level, always chalk up incidents to "well, it's a big city."

Frankly, there are crimes throughout the entirety of the city, in parks, public transport, streets, retail, etc, regardless of the perceived stability of the area. Homicides may be limited to a good chunk of south and west neighborhoods mostly (Uptown and parts of Rogers Park have their share too) but crime as a whole has metastasized everywhere, ranging from generic harassment to property crime to more violent actions like assaults and rape.

The bad characters from the crappy neighborhoods no one visits have as much access to the city as everyone else, and they terrorize their neighbors openly and freely. It sure as hell aren't the gay and higher income residents causing so much anarchy in Boystown some nights.

[Vlajos]

The vast majority of Chicago is safe and much safer than just 10 years ago. look it up

[Vlajos]

So much for Pilsen and McKinley Park being affordable. It was only a matter of time.

Pilsen, McKinley Park see record prices for new construction - Real Estate News - Crain's Chicago Business

[TBideon]

McKinley Park is 20% Asian and growing.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

So much for Pilsen and McKinley Park being affordable. It was only a matter of time.

Pilsen, McKinley Park see record prices for new construction - Real Estate News - Crain's Chicago Business

...nobody gets too cleaned out when that bubble bursts...

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by TBideon

That's just not true, and you can always localize crime in cities from the new yorks to the garys to the londons to the baghdads. There is still something broken in Chicago more so than peer American cities. Maybe we accept or excuse crime on some level, always chalk up incidents to "well, it's a big city."

Frankly, there are crimes throughout the entirety of the city, in parks, public transport, streets, retail, etc, regardless of the perceived stability of the area. Homicides may be limited to a good chunk of south and west neighborhoods mostly (Uptown and parts of Rogers Park have their share too) but crime as a whole has metastasized everywhere, ranging from generic harassment to property crime to more violent actions like assaults and rape.

The bad characters from the crappy neighborhoods no one visits have as much access to the city as everyone else, and they terrorize their neighbors openly and freely. It sure as hell aren't the gay and higher income residents causing so much anarchy in Boystown some nights.

What Vlajos said regarding actual data, but to add a bit more. The problem that Chicagoland has in general with crime is that the region is between two peer groups of cities with extremely different rates of crime.

On one end we have the more global cities that tend to be more expensive places: DC, Boston, NYC, the Bay Area, LA, Seattle. Those areas have very low regional crime rates. Because they are very expensive. And poor people, who on average commit more violent crime, either can't afford to live there or get more social support...because these regions have the resources to provide this support. So crime is lower.

On the other hand, we have cities that are cheaper. From a cost perspective, Chicago is much more similar to St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta at the low end of the price scale and Baltimore at the bottom of the expensive end. All of these metros have crime rates that are very similar to Chicago's. Because poor people aren't getting pushed out as much and because these regions lack the wealth relative to their poor population to provide the same level of support to treat the underlying reasons for crime.

Chicago is much more similar to the former group of cities when it comes to global status, but it is much more similar to the latter group of cities when it comes to underlying fundamentals that impact crime rates. Consequently, Chicago has crime that resembles the latter group of cities. It's not that hard.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer2020

Well obviously the crime is not occurring throughout Chicago. 95% of the crime occurs only in certain pockets of the city --that tend to be very impoverished.

Have you ever visited Chicago?

Brian_M is actually correct!

Of course crime happens everywhere, but this thread is about affordability! Is it more affordable than NY? Possibly, but I've lived within 35 miles of Chicago my entire life and just within the last year moved out of Illinois entirely, yet still close. I suppose you could find an affordable home in the city there, but it's hard to find one in a good neighborhood, with good schools, low crime and low taxes! Illinois has the highest property taxes in the U.S. and now you can't even deduct more than 10k in property taxes off your annual return, so even if you can find a rare gem, you will be paying out your rear in taxes regardless! Also, more people moved out of Illinois in 2017 than any other state!


Check out these statistics:


https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois


Illinois most moved from state in 2017, study finds | abc7chicago.com

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by CGab

Brian_M is actually correct!

Of course crime happens everywhere, but this thread is about affordability! Is it more affordable than NY? Possibly...

I think the correct answer here is "assuredly"...Chicago is assuredly more affordable than NY (and Boston, SF, DC, etc.), even when you factor in property taxes (as well as other state and local taxes).

The idea that more people moved out of Illinois than moved in is true, but more people moved out of every surrounding state than moved in, too. Literally every state in the Midwest except South Dakota has negative domestic migration (i.e., every state surrounding IL, too, including IN).

Midwest:
Illinois -114,144
Michigan -27,839
Ohio -27,558
Kansas -18,595
Wisconsin -12,395
Indiana -12,135
North Dakota -6,259
Missouri -6,250
Alaska -4,587
Wyoming -4,347
Iowa -3,392
Nebraska -2,144
Minnesota -1,762
South Dakota 941

Of course one of the largest contributors to IL growth other quite a while has been international migration, which has slowed considerably.