Photo obtained from Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago. Click on image to view larger version.

By Don DeBat

Dec. 8, 2025 – Looking to 2026 and beyond, Chicago builders likely will have to juggle civic priorities, analyze market conditions, and gaze into the crystal ball on the direction of mortgage interest rates in order to bank future profits.

Those are a few of the thoughts on the minds of more than 1,000 builders, developers, real estate brokers, apartment managers, title insurers, and lenders who attended the Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago’s 36th annual Real Estate Forum on November 20 at Theater on the Lake, 2401 North Lake Shore Drive.

This year’s event featured a panel discussion, “Big Shoulders, Big Ambition: Bridging Policy and Market Forces for a Stronger Chicago,” which explored how public and private stakeholders can find common ground through collaborative investment and development.

The Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago is an honorary society of builders, developers, and managers of real estate and those involved in the field. Participants at this year’s forum included veteran North Side developer Alan Lev, chairman of Belgravia Group, Ltd., who served as panel moderator.

Panelists were James Cappleman, 46th Ward alderman from 2011 to 2023; John Cullerton, president of the Illinois Senate from 2009 to 2020; and Gregory Mutz, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of AMLI Residential Partners, LLC, a luxury rental apartment developer.

Jennifer Parks, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Chicago, was the keynote speaker.

Pro-housing panelists speak

Generally, the panelists’ comments mirrored the mood of the cheering pro-real-estate crowd. Discerning comments from the panelists follow:

“Builders and developers need a sweeping citywide master plan for housing,” urged Cappleman (left). “It seems as if the longer it takes to get a building up, the longer it takes to lower property taxes.”

“Property taxes do not need to go up,” said Cullerton, assuming the city budget people sharpen their pencils and make necessary cuts.

Mutz, an outspoken critic of subsidized housing, called the Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) “a cancer.”

“Twenty percent of Chicago penthouses have to be affordable housing in Chicago? That’s nuts,” said Mutz (right). “A Democratic Socialist mayor means a socialist local government.”

ARO is a liberal housing policy used in Chicago that mandates certain new residential developments must include a percentage of affordable housing units.

Moderator Lev (left) tersely summed up the Chicago developer’s dilemma: “The pickle we’re in is due to poor leadership and poor policies” at City Hall.

While the panel did not make any mortgage rate predictions for 2026, on December 4, the benchmark 30-year fixed rate home loan average nationwide hovered at 6.19 percent, down slightly from 6.23 percent a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A year ago, the 30-year fixed loan averaged 6.69 percent.

Michael Glasser, president of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, was honored with the Forum’s 2025 Impact Award for his leadership, advocacy, and commitment to strengthening Chicago’s housing landscape. An outspoken housing advocate, Glasser refers to Chicago’s thousands of apartment landlords as “housing advocates.”

Chicago real estate market highly uneven

Chicago’s broad housing canvas, where builders and developers earn a living, range from “hot” neighborhoods to vast “wastelands” of private-sector disinvestment across the city, analysts say.

Between January 2023 and September 2025, the sprawling 27th Ward – which includes such neighborhoods as Cabrini Green, Fulton Market, Goose Island, and South Old Town, and stretches south to the Eisenhower Expressway and west to Kedzie Avenue and Pulaski Road – accounted for 36 new developments valued at an eye-opening $13 billion in real estate development.

Meanwhile, poor, struggling Englewood, which is spread across five South Side wards, saw just six projects with a total investment of only $150 million, according to Chicago Plan Commission data.

(Right) West 69th Street & South Morgan Street in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Photo obtained from City of Chicago.

At the same time, Chicago’s nonprofit affordable housing developers, such as Habitat for Humanity Chicago, are chipping away on scattered South Side and West Side sites that have slowly lost population and commercial activity following decades of racial challenges and disinvestment.

However, gold is being mined by developers in many other neighborhoods near downtown and the lakefront.

Details on other “hot” housing wards where an abundance of new housing starts have happened between 2019 and September 2025 include:

The 34th Ward. This meandering city ward runs east and west of the “Spaghetti Bowl,” the junction of the Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways. The 34th Ward ranges west to the famed Jackson Boulevard Historic District and Ashland Avenue, and south to Little Italy and the University of Illinois Chicago. The ward generated an impressive 3,830 new residential building permits.

The 3rd Ward. This mostly South Side lakefront ward runs from just west of Museum Campus to LaSalle Street and south to 43rd Street. The ward generated 2,376 new residential building permits.

The 4th Ward. This thin strip of the South Side lakefront runs west of South Shore Drive from Jackson Boulevard south to Oakwood Boulevard. The ward generated 2,099 new residential building permits.

The 32nd Ward. This expansive patch of the Northwest Side, which encompasses Roscoe Village and the North Branch of the Chicago River, runs west of Wrigley Field and South Lakeview. Boundaries of the 32nd Ward are from west of Southport Avenue to Western Avenue. The boundary extends north to Paulina & Addison, then south to Webster Avenue. The ward generated 1,705 new residential building permits.

Vacant lots abound

In the future, one trend that will benefit builders and developers is the reduction of vacant city-owned lots on the South and West Sides.

The city’s vacant lot portfolio has been whittled down to 7,000 lots in 2025 from more than 10,000 a few years ago. Some 70 percent of these lots are available for new construction. The balance is for open space side yards, community gardens, urban agriculture, and parking.