Rockford ranks as No. 2 housing market in the country in new Wall Street Journal, Realtor.com report

October 24, 2025|By Kevin Haas|In 815 News, Local, Rock River Current, Rockford, Trending, Business, Positive & Uplifting, Real estate, Featured, News

A boat travels down the Rock River at sunset on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in downtown Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A new ranking from the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com lists Rockford as the No. 2 housing market in the nation this fall.

The organizations released their quarterly ranking on Thursday. The city has been a part of the list all year, ranking at No. 9 on the summer housing market report and at No. 3 on the spring list. The fall list’s top-ranked market was Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire, for the second-straight quarter.

“It’s certainly wonderful news to get these accolades. I think that what we’ve been seeing and experiencing locally is clearly being recognized nationally,” said Conor Brown, CEO of the NorthWest Illinois Alliance of Realtors. “It’s not a flash in the pan that we’re the hottest housing market for a month and then we completely fall off the list. We’ve been consistently seeing this over the last 18 months or so.”

The ranking identifies markets that balance a high quality of life with anticipated home appreciation by analyzing housing market data, economic vitality, and lifestyle metrics. In Rockford, home values have been appreciating at record rates, with home sale prices reaching all-time highs for three months straight in June, July and August.

“It’s a testament to the work that’s being done throughout our entire community: seeing violent crime drop, property values rise and our property tax rate drop,” Mayor Tom McNamara said. “We’re doing that through investing in our physical infrastructure as well as our human capital.”

McNamara said Rockford Promise, which provides full-tuition college scholarships to qualified Rockford high school graduates, is a prime example of what makes living in Rockford a good investment.

The Wall Street Journal also noted that many of the top-ranked communities have struggled with low levels of homes for sale. Rockford has had historic lows in inventory for multiple years, including a new record low this March.

“It also highlights that we need to continue to work to bring more housing to our community at all three levels: affordable, market and luxury,” McNamara said. “We need to continue to work hard to bring more housing to our area so we can continue to build off the momentum and success that we’re seeing.”

The organizations review data for the 200 largest metropolitan areas to create their ranking. The evaluation factors in demand as measured by pageviews per property on Realtor.com, supply, price trends, property taxes and climate risk. It also factors in the economic health of a community including unemployment rate, affordability, small business count, commute times and available amenities.

“I think because we are such an incredibly affordable housing market that we’re just attracting a lot of people from outside the area who see the value in moving to Rockford,” Brown said. “It’s not just the sales price that they’re benefiting from, but it’s also the amount of home, the amount of yard, the amenities that they’re getting along with that sales price.”