Tracy Cross & Associates, Inc.
3rd Quarter 2026
During the first three quarters of 2026, production builders in the Chicago region sold 4,330 new homes – a similar pace as last year when 4,238 contracts were written during the first nine months of 2025. This translates to an uptick of 2.2 percent.
The townhome/condominium sector wtinessed a slightly stronger increase with 1,845 units sold during the first three quarters of 2026, up 4.5 percent compared to the first nine months of 2025. Single family home activity, in turn, was generally flat with a year-over-year increase of 0.5 percent.
The Southwestern Corridor led the region in new construction activity with 1,273 units sold during the first nine months of 2026, an increase of 26.3 percent compardd to the same period in 2025. In this area, sales were most prevelant in Plainfield, Joliet, Lemont and New Lenox. Meanwhile, the Northwestern Corridor, which recorded the most sales activity during during the January-September 2025 period with 1,249 net contracts, saw volumes drop by 11.1 percent during the first nine months of this year.
The five largest home building companies in the Chicago metro area, which include Lennar, D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, M/I Homes and Ryan Homes, combined for 3,746 sales during the January-September 2026 period, further increasing their suburban share position from 87 percent in 2025 to 90 percent in 2026.
Lennar led all home builders during the first nine months of 2026 with 1,146 contracts, followed by D.R. Horton with 978 sales. Rounding out the top five were Pulte and M/I Homes with 802 and 539 sales, respectively, followed by Ryan Homes with 281 sales.