Property sales in 2022 Q2 are less than 2021 Q2

Chicago Cityscape has uploaded the latest quarter of property sales in Cook County. In the second quarter of 2022, there were 38,560 property sales, a small increase over the 36,253 property sales in 2022 Q1. Compared to 2021, these two quarters are behind. In the second quarter of 2021, there w...

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Cityscape's new "ARO Matrix" decodes the rules for ARO 2021

The ARO Matrix is designed to help decode the rules for Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) in Chicago. We know that the rules can be confusing, especially because there is a different ruleset for each of the five ARO areas, and we want to help make the process of calculating how much affordable housing is required as straightforward as possible.

Access the ARO Matrix directly (this is for Cityscape Real Estate Pro members only), or after looking up an address in Chicago and opening its Zoning Assessment. The 45-second video below walks through how to get there. 

Look up Chicago's new ward map in Cityscape

Chicago City Council adopted a new ward map on May 16, 2022. The new map will be effective for the 2023 city council election. Find out which ward you'll be shifted to using Address Snapshot's Surrounding Places feature. 

Look up your address now in Chicago Cityscape to see your current and future wards. 

The 30-second video below demonstrates looking up an address and using the table of contents to jump down to Surrounding Places.

New map for members: Enterprise Zones

The location of Enterprise Zones has long been a part of our Incentives Checker: Every time you look up an address in Illinois, Incentives Checker will check if there's an overlapping Enterprise Zone. 

map of the top third of Illinois showing where the Enterprise Zones are.

Common to all EZs is the incentive to waive state sales tax (6.25%) on building materials for new and rehab construction. This can be a huge savings!

In conversation with one of our members last week about a new project they were trying to close soon, we asked if they had checked for incentives. Thinking that the location probably wasn't eligible for any due to the higher-value market activity there, I advised them to check because Enterprise Zones cover a very large proportion of Chicago and include areas with lower-cost as well as higher-cost properties. 

They checked, and indeed, the property is in an EZ. Based on the project cost this has the potential to save them tens of thousands just in state sales tax. This savings assumes that they source their construction materials from Illinois retailers.

We launched a new Enterprise Zones map to show all 102 EZs across Illinois and to better inform our members of the incentives. In Chicago, for example, the application process is simple and approved within a few weeks. 

The map is for members only. If you're not a member you'll be invited to start a free trial (no credit card needed).

The 2022 scavenger sale results are in

More people successfully bid on properties in 2022 than were even registered in 2019 Chicago Cityscape now has the results of the 2022 Scavenger Sale that the Cook County Treasurer conducted in February. The level of bidding activity far surpassed the last sale in 2019; three times more propertie...

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