The Home Front

By Don DeBat Forget ‘negotiating’ a lower rent. In high-demand North Side neighborhoods like Old Town and Lincoln Park, the 2026 market has shifted to full-blown bidding wars, with some renters paying thousands over asking to secure a lease. A bidding war is underway this spring for rental apartments in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods, Realtors report. “If you are looking for an upscale rental apartment in Old Town, Lincoln Park, or Lakeview this season, you are not just

By Don DeBat Yet another beauty makeover for Soldier Field is on an architect’s drawing board as a follow-up to the Chicago Bears planned exodus to Arlington Heights or Indiana. Soldier Field would get a translucent, domed roof, 20,000 new skybox seats, and a surrounding entertainment district under an architect’s new pipe-dream proposal. Now that the Chicago Bears posted a rare winning season in 2025, fans have visions of a Super Bowl dancing in their heads. So, why not run

By Don DeBat Chicago and Cook County property owners are beaten, battered and bewildered by soaring real estate taxes. With wallets already flattened, homeowners are bracing for another big cash bite on April 1 st , when the first installment of 2025 taxes are due. According to a new study released March 30 th  by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, real estate taxes in Chicago and the county have grown at double the rate of inflation over the past three decades. As a result,

By Don DeBat Renters hunting for an affordable apartment in a nice North Side Chicago neighborhood this spring may be in for some sticker shock. Between February of 2025 and February of 2026, Chicago’s median rental prices rose more than many other major cities, according to a national survey by Axios Media, Inc. The survey is based on new leases signed each month in 54 metro areas with at least one million residents. Chicago’s median apartment rent rose 4% to $1,670 a month

FreddieMac interest rates as of 3/12/26 By Don DeBat With spring’s cloudy skies overhead and rain or snow in the forecast, Chicago’s North Side home-resale market remains in a quagmire in early 2026. One veteran Near North Side/Gold Coast broker simply described the current home-resale activity as “a see-saw market.” The March 2026 Baird & Warner Market Analysis, covering the key North Side neighborhoods of Near North/Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and North Center, close

President Donald J. Trump By Don DeBat Chicago home buyers are not fleeing from guided missiles, but President Donald Trump’s aerial war against Iran has had a dramatic, negative impact on the spring housing market in the Windy City. The Mideast War has pushed mortgage-interest rates sharply higher, analysts report. “Last week the rates dipped to 5.99% for the first time in 3.5 years, and everything seemed to be moving along positively,” noted veteran lender Jeremy Rose, seni