GARFIELD RIDGE — Two Southwest Side enclaves have earned top nods as some of the area's hottest neighborhoods, according to the real estate website Redfin.
Garfield Ridge and Brighton Park ranked Nos. 2 and 3 on the list, which was derived by measuring which Chicago area neighborhoods had the highest increase in total page views, the number of favorited listings and properties designated as "Hot Homes" on Redfin’s website and apps in 2014, according to a news release.
A hot home is defined by Redfin as a property that has a 70 percent or greater chance of selling within two weeks.
The list also includes Andersonville, which was ranked No. 1, Evanston's Lakeshore Historic District and Ishnala in Palos Heights, which came in at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
A Redfin spokesman said neighborhoods that showed in uptick in those web metrics are typically poised for more transactions and higher prices in 2015.
With its rehabbed bungalows, proximity to the Stevenson Expy. and CTA Orange Line offering access to The Loop, Garfield Ridge is popular with young families looking to stay in the city, real estate agent Ali Donoghue said in a statement.
Redfin also noted an uptick in family activities like the annual summer cruise and new tree lighting festival at Wentworth Park as potential draws.
Brighton Park, meanwhile, is earned high marks for its reasonably priced and "solidly constructed" housing stock as well as its proximity to the Loop via the Stevenson, Redfin's Alex Haried said.
Brighton Park has two properties considered "hot homes" — a four-bedroom two-flat on 38th Place ($62,900) and a foreclosed multi-unit building at 42nd Street and Talman Avenue ($79,900) — which, Haried said, "is actually more than almost every neighborhood in Chicago."
Patrick Brosnan, director of the grassroots Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, welcomed the news, saying "it's nice to see that people find Brighton Park desirable."
But he also wondered aloud if the news could spell the beginnings of another housing bubble.
After prices of the neighborhood's modest homes swelled in the early 2000s, many homeowners "drained the equity" out of their homes and made poor financial decisions with their newfound cash, Brosnan said.
Then the economic crisis of 2008 hit, leaving residents in worse shape.
The council, 4447 S. Archer Ave. now offers pre- and post-purchase counseling for homeowners, all in an effort to make Brighton Park a "nice place where working people can live and raise a family," Brosnan said.
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