As the cost of housing continues to rise, Illinois realtors are pushing legislation to make it easier for first-time homebuyers to save for a down payment.
Senate Bill 148 would enable Illinois residents to open a special kind of savings account that could only be used to pay eligible costs for the purchase of a single-family residence. Deposits into those accounts would be deductible from state income taxes with some limitations.
The deductions would be limited to $5,000 per year for individuals and $10,000 per year for joint accounts, up to maximum aggregate amounts of $25,000 per individual and $50,000 for joint accounts over a 10-year period.
The accounts would be available to Illinois residents who have not owned or purchased, either individually or jointly, a single-family residence during the prior 10 years. That would include both first-time and “second-chance” buyers – people who may have purchased a home previously and now want to get into the ownership market again.
“When you look at the median sales price of a home in Illinois in 2024, it was almost $300,000,” Sen. Christine Castro, D-Elgin, said during a news conference Feb. 27. “That’s 8% higher than in 2023 and almost 40% then higher than in 2019. So you see the rapid (rising) cost of homes.”
Jim Clayton, senior director of state government affairs for the trade group Illinois Realtors, said the bill is one of several initiatives the industry has introduced this year to help alleviate the burden of rising home prices.
The bill has been assigned to the Senate Revenue Committee and is awaiting further action.
This article appears in Best Places To Work 2025.