Our database of property sales has been updated to include the 18,864 property sales in Cook County in the most recent quarter, 2020 Q2 (April, May, June). Those sales in Cook County represent 42.0 percent of all recorded property sales in Illinois in the second quarter of 2020. The volume of sales in Cook County decreased from 33,015 sales in Q1 by 42.9 percent to 18,864 sales in Q2. 

We have three ways to find property sales:

1. Browse all recorded property sales in Cook County since 2016 on the Property Sales portal page
2. Look up property sales around a given address
3. Look up property sales in a Place (draw a Personal Place if we don't have one)

Additionally, we have property sales records in Illinois going back to 2000, but we do not plan to add these to the website. If you are looking for a property sale that you cannot find through other sources, contact us and we might be able to locate it. 

We’ve heard from some of our newest members that they saw Chicago Cityscape as a way to find new business and new clients and that’s why they requested a demo. One of the tools we show them is Proposed Projects. This map and spreadsheet shows the location and description of dozens of newly proposed projects each month.

Our succinct summaries make it easy for members to skim the list to find the ideal proposed projects that they can work for. Each project has additional details, including the full scope of the project, the name of the owner, and sometimes the name of the architect. Some projects also have emails and phone numbers for those contacts. 

In the last week we've added about 30 new proposed projects. And next month we'll add a bunch more. Some of these projects include a 203-room hotel, a new 6-story residential building, and a new distribution center.

Architects at Booth Hansen have created a backyard home zoning worksheet so Chicago property owners can determine how large of a backyard home (or coach house) the proposed ordinance* would allow. 

Access it here

The earliest that the proposed ordinance could be adopted is September 9, 2020.

We've launched "Location Insights" to place, front and center, small info nuggets about a property and its immediate surroundings. In just a glance, learn if big projects are being proposed nearby, environmental and transportation data, and development potential. 

Look up an address today

Find out how many home loans were applied for and issue or denied in your neighborhood 

This new data section on Chicago Cityscape is inspired by the joint WBEZ and City Bureau investigation, called "Where Banks Don't Lend", of home mortgage lending activity in Chicago. The investigation used data about applications for a new home mortgage collected by the federal government pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). 

The investigation found that the country's largest banks, and the ones with the most loans in Chicago, have disproportionately not lended in neighborhoods of color. Additionally, redlining and other discriminatory actions by lenders and real estate agents in the 20th century in Chicago led to contract buying as the only way Black people could "buy" homes. 

Here's how to access the home mortgage data:

• Do you want data for a specific address? Look up the address to get its Address Snapshot, and then scroll down until you see "Home mortgages"
• Doing research and you already know the Census tract number? Find it in Places Explorer, open its Place page, and then scroll down until you see "Home mortgages"