Fox Valley Real Estate: Week of October 12–16, 2026

This week the data pulled in two directions. Mortgage rates stayed above 7 percent, which is stretching buyer budgets. Inventory in most of our towns is still tight, though, and the national sales report showed the same split: fewer sales, more listings, and prices still rising from a year ago. Locally, the bigger story is the construction pipeline in Oswego, Yorkville, and Sugar Grove. Those approvals will shape what buyers can choose from for years.

Aurora

An alderman told city officials that hundreds of new housing units are in the pipeline on the West Side, with roughly 310 units near Home Depot and 108 behind Aldi off Orchard Road. These are proposals, not finished homes, so the timing is uncertain. Citywide, the median sale price is $361,000, up 3.1 percent from a year ago, and homes are going under contract in about 11 days (Redfin, as reported by Kombrink). That is the affordable end of our corridor, and it is still appreciating.

North Aurora

Silverleaf, from Silverthorne Homes, is in presales. The 99 homes sit on a 42.87-acre planned unit development approved in April, starting at $500,000 to $650,000 and topping out near $850,000 (Shaw Local). That makes it useful move-up inventory in a tight market. The town’s median list price is about $499,000, and days on market are down about 21 percent from a year ago (O’Neil Property Group). The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has also finished a multi-year study on removing the Fox River dam, with a public forum set for October 15.

Batavia

The city is courting developers for a mixed-use project on North River Street, on a 0.68-acre city-owned site steps from the Fox River. The council approved River Street Plaza, which turns the former Tin Shop site into a public gathering space. The median list price is about $522,000, or about $228 per square foot. Inventory is up about 37 percent from a year ago, and supply is still tight at about 1.4 months (Zillow and Kombrink). Supply is moving, but the market is not soft.

Geneva

A quiet week. Six sales closed between September 29 and October 5, five of them single-family homes. The median single-family price sits near $540,000 (Kombrink). A proposed mixed-use project at 122 and 130 East State Street, on the former Great Western Flooring property, needs a comprehensive plan amendment, a zoning change, two variations, and site plan review. Nothing has been decided. For downtown owners, that is the item to watch.

Sugar Grove

The Grove is under construction. Crown Community’s 760-acre development at I-88 and Route 47 has 214 single-family homes going up on 60- to 70-foot lots, finishing through 2026. Full build-out is about 1,400 residences plus a 323-acre business park. A data center developer is under contract for a site in that park, though the developer has not been named (WSPY). The TIF district is projected to send more than $31 million to Kaneland schools over 23 years. The village’s police headquarters holds its grand opening on October 17.

Naperville

Naperville is still a sellers’ market. The September median sale price was $659,686, up 13.7 percent from a year ago, and active inventory is at its seasonal peak at about 1,436 listings (Naperville.com and Redfin). Earlier this month, Pulte withdrew its Naperville Ridge proposal for 94 duplexes on DuPage Water Commission land, hours before the City Council vote. Residents objected to tree removal, wetlands, and density, and a petition with more than 3,600 signatures circulated (Daily Herald). The land’s future is unclear.

Oswego

The Lodi Grove subdivision cleared Plan and Zoning on October 8 with a unanimous recommendation, but for a smaller plan. It now calls for 183 single-family homes and 232 townhomes near Oswego East High School, 62 fewer units than before. Density dropped from 4.68 to 4.07 units per acre, and a southern access to Wolf’s Crossing Road was added. It goes to the village trustees next (Shaw Local). The village president also reiterated at the October 7 meeting that Oswego does not want data centers, citing limited substation capacity.

Yorkville

Yorkville has the week’s largest proposals. CyrusOne’s CHI-11 data center campus, on about 228 acres, and a Pioneer Development plan for 14 buildings totaling about 17 million square feet are both in front of the village. A second lawsuit now challenges the Project Cardinal rezoning as “arbitrary and capricious” (WSPY, October 7). For homebuyers, the new-build side is steadier. About 48 new homes are in the pipeline with a median price near $418,000 (O’Neil Property Group). The $32.9 million IDOT project to widen IL-71 from Oswego to Yorkville targets late 2026 completion.

County and rate backdrop

Rates were the constant this week. Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed average was 7.40 percent for the week ended October 8, and Optimal Blue’s daily data showed 7.42 percent. The spread between mortgage rates and the 10-year Treasury is about 220 basis points, compared with a historical average near 200 (Mortgage Daily, October 11). A wider spread means lenders are pricing in more risk, which is why a cooler inflation reading could pull rates down even without a Fed move. On prices, the Cotality Chicago index showed a 6.9 percent year-over-year gain for July.

National watch: NAR’s September existing-home sales

On October 13, the National Association of Realtors reported that September existing-home sales rose 1.5 percent from August to a seasonally adjusted pace of 3.99 million, but fell 2.2 percent from a year ago. The median price was $417,500, the 39th straight month of year-over-year gains. Unsold inventory reached 1.60 million, the highest since November 2019, and supply stands at 4.8 months (NAR, via GlobeNewswire and Fortune).

NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, called this “a very tough market out there, especially with mortgage rates rising.” He reads rising inventory and longer selling times as leverage moving toward buyers. That is the industry’s case, and NAR is a trade group with its own interest in how the market is described.

The counter-argument is that 4.8 months of supply is still close to the range usually considered balanced, and prices have not slowed. More listings do not automatically mean lower prices. One caution: NAR’s own average rate of 6.86 percent sits well below the Freddie Mac and Optimal Blue figures above. It likely reflects rates locked at contract signing, but I have not confirmed that. For Fox Valley buyers, the real question is whether more choice turns into better terms, and that depends on the town and the price point.

If you are weighing a move in Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, or anywhere else in the Fox Valley, I am happy to walk through what this week’s numbers mean for your situation.