Once called ‘miserable,’ Rockford, Illinois, is attracting new homebuyers

When a home lists in the northern Illinois city of Rockford, it’s gone within 23 days — half the national average, according to Homes.com data. Agent and lifelong resident Dianne Parvin says it’s more like minutes.

“The minute they come out, they’re gone,” she said. “You get the full price or more.”

Parvin remembers when more than 1,000 homes were always available, but Homes.com data shows that number has dwindled to 609 in the entire Rockford metropolitan area, which extends beyond the city limits.

Rockford's median home price climbed 9.95% in May on an annual basis, according to Homes.com data. While price growth has slowed a little lately, the market has surged in the past year, with prices increasing every month and peaking at 14% growth in August. At the end of May, the median price for a single-family home in the Rockford metropolitan area was $214,000, Homes.com data shows — a bargain compared to the national median price of $388,829.

It's quite a turn from the situation in 2013, when Forbes awarded Rockford the title of the country’s third most "miserable" city to live in. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development named Rockford one of the fastest-shrinking cities in the country.

But Rockford has begun to reinvent itself in recent years with increased investment in the city center and programs aimed at raising the population. Most of all, its low cost of living and lower-than-average home prices are attracting all types of buyers.

In response, the housing market has moved historically quickly, real estate professionals say, and it's also highlighting a severe lack of homes, a shortage helping to bolster price growth.

Once known as the "Screw Capital of the World" for its robust manufacturing sector and history of making fasteners, Rockford for decades relied heavily on factory jobs to support its population. Manufacturing accounted for 21% of employment in 2020, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, gradual shifts toward automation took a toll on the plants and the city’s employment. Rockford faced record-high levels of unemployment, with rates reaching a peak of 16% in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, Rockford's population began to decline. When the Great Recession came along, the challenges intensified.

Agent Fidel Batres of Keller Williams Realty Signature recalls when he entered real estate in 2012, Rockford “was the foreclosure town of the United States,” he said. “There was a property that was listed for sale for $9,000, and we made a $1 offer.”

Today, Rockford’s aerospace and healthcare industries hold the bulk of employment. Both have promising futures as Chicago Rockford International Airport — located about 90 miles from downtown Chicago — expands in cargo partnerships and passenger service.

As Rockford recovers from deindustrialization and population loss, it remains Illinois' fifth-largest city, and with home prices at about 55% of the national average, potential buyers are becoming increasingly attracted to that level of affordability.

Mike and Robin Arocho live 45 minutes outside of Atlanta, but this summer, they’ll be two new Rockford residents. Like many new Rockfordians, the couple was initially drawn to the city’s low cost of living.

“It came up as one of the best places to live due to its affordability,” said Robin, an elementary school teacher. “We had never heard of Rockford before.”

The more the Arochos researched, the more they learned about Rockford: its "City of Gardens" nickname for the 20,000 acres of public parks; proximity to cities such as Madison, Wisconsin; Milwaukee; and Chicago; and an abundance of small businesses.

Agents say the Arochos are one example of buyers coming to Rockford.

“I had a call with a buyer, and they currently live in Wisconsin. I asked, ‘What’s bringing you here?’ They said, ‘Affordability. I will commute,' " said Batres, adding that the buyer was willing to accept a slightly longer commute to have a lower cost of living. “I get a lot of calls from the Chicago area.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. housing market saw an unexpected explosion as Americans accessed low mortgage rates. It spurred an urban exodus with city dwellers in search of more space and less density, and Rockford was a hot spot, according to agents.

The difference today is interest rates, sticking just under 7% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, are keeping people in their homes that have increased in value. Many owners have mortgage rates locked in around 3% from 2020 and, if looking to buy, would prefer a city like Rockford and its low-priced homes.

"We stole a lot of buyers and sellers during the COVID years and we also gave a lot of property owners 2.5% to 3% interest rates, and that's why they don't want to sell their homes," said Toni Vander Heyden of Keller Williams Realty Signature. "So if there's a reason for a hot market, that's the reason why."

Agents say many Rockford buyers are “boomerangs,” or former native residents returning after years away. Others hail from suburbs outside Chicago, and some come from much further, like the Arochos. Other buyers are out-of-state investors getting in on the high demand and limited housing stock.

“I had a lot of people during COVID that moved to Rockford from other states all over the U.S. — the most that I saw in clientele,” said agent Brittany Schultz of Dickerson & Nieman, who relocated to Rockford in 2009 when her father took a job at the former Chrysler factory. “But now, with the housing market thriving, we are getting more people from the suburbs and Chicago area, or maybe Madison, that are trying to buy in the Rockford area because it’s a better market for them.”

Mayor Tom McNamara is making changes to ensure it’s more than affordability that draws residents, both new and old, to Rockford.

Within the past eight years, the city has invested hundreds of millions into the development of its city center, said McNamara, who took office in 2017.

One of the efforts for reinvention is the Made for Rockford campaign, which began in 2021. The initiative includes videos highlighting Rockfordians and city offerings.

On the southwest side of Rockford, a vacant 26-acre former manufacturing campus is undergoing a $450 million redevelopment into a new district, Colman Yards, with apartments, commercial space, and the rehabilitation of nine historic factory buildings. More than 300 apartments will be built along with more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space.

A rebuilt Metra train line connecting Colman Yards to Chicago is expected to begin service in 2027 as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois program. The line closed in 1981 due to a lack of funding.

Rockford also launched its first cultural plan last year with a goal to increase access to the arts. A community-led effort launched in 2019 called Crea8iv has placed more than 40 murals on public buildings and 14 public art sculptures.

The City Council in December passed the largest capital improvement program to date, which will infuse $343 million into infrastructure improvement through 2029. Violent crime also has decreased 35% from 2017 to today, according to McNamara.

“In my opinion, what changed is we stopped neglecting the places or people that make up our city and we started embracing them,” said McNamara.

The city has also been home to the Rockford IceHogs hockey team, the minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, since 2021, and the Hard Rock Casino Rockford, which opened in August 2024. According to the Illinois Gaming Board, pulled in nearly $100 million in revenue last year, breaking the top six casinos in the state out of 16 in its first year.

Not unlike other U.S. cities, Rockford suffers from low inventory with mostly older homes and little new construction.

The total housing supply is enough to last just a few weeks, Homes.com data shows, meaning demand outpaces supply, creating quick-moving listings and rising prices. That demand has pushed the Rockford metro median home price up nearly 10% year over year.

A healthy supply would be five to six months, according to the National Association of Home Builders. A dearth of houses for sale can mean major headaches for buyers and sellers.

Keller Williams' Vander Heyden said she purchased seven homes from sellers in one week who preferred to forgo listings and opt for quick equity due to increasing home values in the area. Other Rockford agents say multiple offers and above-ask prices are the norm.

Low inventory can be a brick wall of sorts for those wanting to move to Rockford.

Of the housing stock available, most are existing homes requiring remodel work, said agent Parvin. The city has seen very little new construction, spurring officials to launch a strategy aiming to create and preserve up to 9,000 housing units in the next 10 years through revitalizing vacant properties and building new homes.

One builder told Homes.com that Rockford is difficult and costly to build in, while projects less than an hour away across the Wisconsin border are much more profitable. Illinois posted one of the lowest rates of new construction in the country, according to an examination of U.S. Census Bureau figures by Construction Coverage, an industry data analysis firm.

Rockford’s tax abatement program introduced in 2023 waives 75-80% of property taxes and permit fees for three years, aimed to encourage new construction.

City data shows the effort is paying off. Permits last year reached their highest level since 2007, right before the Great Recession ravaged the city economically.

“We saw the most new single-family residential permits pulled since 2007. We went from 15 or 20 to closer to 100,” said McNamara.

The mayor believes a seed has been planted to help turn the market around, with hundreds of new units expected in the coming years as developments break ground.

A project called District 815 will add a mix of condos, duplexes and townhouses, while another, Creekview Bluffs, brings another 47 townhouses. Two new luxury condo developments were approved this year.

Rockford “has gone through some tough times, and many of the residents ... left where they grew up, but they recognized the gem they had” and came back, said Robin Arocho. “You just want to be a part of it.”