The Andersonville Daily, reprising an earlier Crain’s article, touts Andersonville and Uptown (actually, ZIP code 60640) as having experienced the highest level of appreciation – 39.3% – in single-family home prices in the Chicago area over the last decade.
The numbers come from Fiserv, which compiles the data for the widely-followed Case-Shiller Index, and are based on the same methodology.
There are reasons to approach these numbers with great caution in the case of this particular ZIP code.
The first reason is the necessarily small sample size: there simply isn’t a broad selection of single-family homes in 60640 and resale volumes are thin.
The reason for greater caution is that many of the resales in 60640 are homes that have undergone substantial renovations which would, of course, substantially increase the resale price.
Caution aside, there’s no doubt that Andersonville and parts of Uptown have improved substantially over the past decade.
Joe,
To truly get a better idea of housing values in Uptown it would be better to track individual condo units that sold multiple times over the ten year period.
That being said I don’t think those numbers are completely unreasonable. Somewhat unreasonable, probably. In the 90’s and into the early 00’s Uptown had some of the highest rates of appreciation in the city. Then mid decade Uptown actually lagged in terms of appreciation as Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Woodlawn etc went crazy in terms of bubbly appreciation.
Then the bubble burst and Uptown prices have dropped at a lower rate than the other hoods.
Now one of my former neighbors bought a condo around 2000 for 145 grand or so. Just sold it for around 225 grand. Probably could have sold it in 2005-2006 for 250-275 grand. Did nothing to it except paint and a new furnace/hot water heater in the years he lived there.
My guess is that over the next decade Uptown will slightly outperform the city housing market. I think the days of rapid appreciation are behind us for your lifetime. Now I am young and vivacious enough that I may see those days again followed by the inevitable “pop”.
As for Uptown as a whole the Buena Park section south of Montrose is quite surprisingly liveable. That also goes for the blocks west of Magnolia. Virtually all the violent crime seems to be concentrated N of Montrose, Dreaded Area Montrose North–DAMN, and along Broadway and Sheridan.
The days of Uptown being a multi racial ghetto as portrayed in the movie “The Hunter” are past. As is my youth and youthful dreams. Alas.