Des Plaines Ranked As A Top Location For First-Time Homebuyers

DES PLAINES, IL — In its April issue, Chicago Magazine assessed the real estate market throughout the Chicago area to explore the best neighborhoods and suburbs for buying property.

The "Where to Buy Now" list provides data about the changes in home prices over time and is broken down into four categories, representing distinct types of buyers: "downsizers", "mover-uppers", "first-timers" and "risk takers".

Norwood Park, Rogers Park and South Shore were ranked the top neighborhoods in Chicago for first-time homebuyer, a category that examined near suburbs containing small houses and condos with solid appreciation and not much volatility prices between $150,000 and $400,000. In addition to Des Plaines, Niles and Melrose Park made the list.

Here are the stats for Des Plaines:

• Median house sale price: $250,000
• Change since 2006: -25%
• Change since 2015: 3%

Des Plaines is a fast-growing northwest suburb featuring a growing number of condos and jobs. Schools are pushing for improvement, the village has a large new library and companies continue to hire in town. Prices have not bounced back as much as in some other nearby suburbs, but the town continues to grow and there is a wide range of inventory priced between $200,000 and $400,000.

» More from Chicago Magazine's "2017 Where to Buy Now" list

Top photo: Patch file