Watseka, Illinois: A Small City's Evolving Housing Landscape Watseka, a small city in Illinois covering 2.94 square miles, has experienced significant changes in its housing market over the past decade. The city's homeownership rates and property values have fluctuated, reflecting broader economic trends and local dynamics. From 2013 to 2022, Watseka's homeownership rate displayed a U-shaped trend, starting at 71% in 2013, dropping to 65% in 2019, and then rebounding to 73% by 2022. This pattern coincided with changes in average home prices, which increased from $55,415 in 2013 to $82,798 in 2022, representing a 49.4% rise over the decade.

The relationship between federal interest rates and homeownership in Watseka is noteworthy. As interest rates remained low from 2013 to 2016, around 0.1%, homeownership rates were relatively stable, ranging from 71% to 73%. However, as rates began to rise from 2017 onwards, reaching 1.83% in 2018, homeownership initially declined to 66%. Interestingly, despite further rate increases, homeownership rebounded strongly to 73% by 2022, suggesting other local factors may have influenced this trend.

Renter percentages in Watseka mirrored the inverse of homeownership trends, peaking at 35% in 2019 before declining to 27% in 2022. Average rent prices showed a general upward trend, increasing from $608 in 2013 to $670 in 2022, a 10.2% rise. This rent increase, coupled with a declining population from 6,183 in 2013 to 5,387 in 2022, suggests a tightening rental market despite the overall population decrease.