Chicago Housing Seasonality: Listings, Closings, Market Time, and Price Cuts
A completed-year analysis of Redfin's Chicago city all-residential tracker, comparing average monthly listings, closings, market time, sale-to-list ratio, and price-drop share.
Primary finding
Across the seven completed calendar years from 2019 through 2025, Chicago averaged the most closings in June, the most new listings in March, and the shortest reported median market time in June.
Scope
- Geography
- Chicago city, Illinois; Redfin place geography
- Data period
- January 2019 through December 2025, seven completed calendar years
- Published
- September 29, 2026
| Month | Homes sold | New listings | Median DOM | Sale/list | Price drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1,639 | 2,660 | 73.7 | 97.8% | 12.9% |
| February | 1,720 | 3,246 | 78.4 | 98.0% | 11.8% |
| March | 2,517 | 3,939 | 61.6 | 98.7% | 14.6% |
| April | 2,801 | 3,844 | 50.0 | 99.2% | 14.8% |
| May | 2,959 | 3,917 | 46.1 | 99.3% | 16.5% |
| June | 3,079 | 3,890 | 45.6 | 99.4% | 18.7% |
| July | 2,847 | 3,658 | 45.7 | 99.2% | 20.0% |
| August | 2,740 | 3,409 | 48.4 | 98.9% | 20.6% |
| September | 2,393 | 3,364 | 50.9 | 98.6% | 21.3% |
| October | 2,326 | 2,852 | 52.7 | 98.3% | 21.3% |
| November | 1,982 | 1,955 | 55.0 | 98.1% | 16.3% |
| December | 2,135 | 1,381 | 62.0 | 97.9% | 11.4% |
Method
- Downloaded Redfin's public city market tracker on September 29, 2026 and selected Chicago, Illinois, All Residential rows.
- Limited the seasonal calculation to the seven completed calendar years from 2019 through 2025. Partial 2026 months are excluded from the seasonal averages.
- For each calendar month, calculated a simple average of Redfin's reported monthly homes sold, new listings, median days on market, average sale-to-list ratio, and price-drop share across the seven years.
- Kept Redfin's metric definitions intact. The sale-to-list ratio uses final list price, and Redfin excludes ratios below 0.5 or above 2.0.
- The downloaded file's latest Chicago row covers May 2026 and is stamped June 2, 2026. This report does not treat that file as an August 2026 snapshot.
Limits
- Simple monthly averages give each year equal weight. They are not transaction-weighted pooled estimates.
- Citywide all-residential results combine single-family homes, condos, co-ops, townhouses, and two-to-four-unit properties.
- Seasonal averages describe past reported activity, not the best month for every property or a forecast for the next year.
- The 2019 through 2025 window includes pandemic-era disruption. Readers should use the pattern as planning context and refresh the current property-specific market.
- Redfin data is subject to revision and its geography and coverage are not interchangeable with MRED or Chicago REALTORS statistics.
Sources
- Redfin Data Center downloads (September 29, 2026). City market tracker, Chicago place geography, All Residential.
- Redfin Data Center methodology (September 29, 2026). Metric definitions, geography, coverage, revisions, and reporting cadence.
Put the finding into a property decision
Read Jovanka's companion guide for buyers and sellers. Broad data becomes useful when it is narrowed to the correct location, property type, building, price band, condition, timing, and current competition.
Need the property-level view?
Bring Jovanka the address, property type, timing, and decision. She can refresh the current local evidence before you rely on a broad market signal.