South Barrington's Median Is a Composite of Three Markets. Same Price, Different Monthly.
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
Search "South Barrington median home price" and the first city guide will tell you it is $2.1 million. Pull the actual sold data for the twelve months ending July 2026 and the median is closer to $1.18 million on Homes.com's own transaction feed, with 55 sales and a 45-day average time on market. Both numbers describe the same village. Only one describes what a buyer will actually write a check for.
The gap is not a portal error. It is what happens when you compute one median across three genuinely different markets stacked on top of each other inside 44 subdivisions and roughly 43 private lakes and ponds. A buyer who understands which of the three markets a listing belongs to can price it. A buyer who does not will keep asking why two houses with the same list price carry monthly costs that differ by more than $500.
Here is what the portals are actually telling you as of mid-2026:
The list-price numbers describe what sellers are asking, weighted heavily by a handful of estates above $3 million sitting on the market for months. The sold-price numbers describe what closed. In South Barrington the two live in different neighborhoods, literally.
The village's 44 subdivisions sort cleanly into three tracks. The tracks were built at different times, by different builders, under different HOA arrangements, and they attract different buyers. Pricing them against each other is the mistake.
Built roughly 1979 through the late 1990s. Custom or semi-custom, half-acre-plus lots, low or nominal HOA, high property tax carry because assessments were set when the homes were new and the improvements were large.
Representative examples: Bridlewood (built 1983–1999, homes 7,164 to 8,247 sq ft, HOA around $67 per month, average annual property tax about $21,381), South Barrington Lakes (built 1979–2008, homes ranging from 3,140 to 12,192 sq ft, HOA $14 to $67, average annual tax around $13,429), Stoneridge (highest average sale price in the village at roughly $1.485 million per Homes by Marco's subdivision-level compilation), plus South Barrington Green (1969–1985), Cutters Run, and The Glen.
This is the segment Homes.com describes when it says "most homes built in the 1970s and '80s sell from about $500,000 to $800,000" and "some larger homes from the same era, along with homes from the '90s and 2000s, sell for up to $1.6 million." That range is where most of the 55 twelve-month sales lived.
Built roughly 2000 through 2025. Guarded gates or video-surveillance gates, ponds, cul-de-sacs, larger square footage, maintenance-free or partial-maintenance HOAs.
Representative examples: Village Enclave of South Barrington (maintenance-free gated), Sundance (guard-gate clubhouse community, individual lots over two acres), Nathan's Glen (gated with video surveillance), Falcon Lakes (20 lots, gated), Hidden Lakes (list prices reaching $3.3 million), Jade Estates, Terra Vita, Inverness Ridge, Magnolia Pointe, Meadow Lakes, The Coves, Forest View.
This is the segment that produces the $2.45 million list-price median and the 104-day time on market. It is thinly traded. When Redfin filtered to "gated community," only four homes were active in mid-2025 and the average listing was receiving ten offers over 68 days on market. Those two facts together describe a segment where sellers price for the top of the market and only the correctly priced homes clear.
Built 2007 through 2025 by Toll Brothers. Gated, age-restricted, clubhouse, pool, tennis, HOA covers exterior maintenance and common grounds.
Two subdivisions, and they are not interchangeable: The Woods of South Barrington (homes 3,128 to 9,399 sq ft, HOA range $110 to $493 per month, average annual property tax around $16,882) and Regency at the Woods of South Barrington (156 homes, 2,168 to 5,872 sq ft, HOA $515 to $630 per month, average annual property tax around $13,754).
The 55+ track is the only segment where a buyer can predict monthly carry without a spreadsheet, because Toll's HOA absorbs the exterior work that estate owners in Track One pay for out of pocket.
| Track | Build era | Typical sq ft | HOA range | Avg annual property tax | Time on market signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legacy Estate | 1969–2008 | 3,100–12,000+ | $14–$67/mo | $13,000–$21,000+ | Sold data median $1.18M, 45 DOM |
| Gated New-Build | 2000–2025 | 4,500–15,000 | Varies, often $200–$600/mo | Varies; newer assessments | Listing median $2.45M, 104 DOM |
| 55+ Toll | 2007–2025 | 2,168–9,399 | $110–$630/mo | $13,700–$16,900 | Toll-set, tighter distribution |
The composite median that gets quoted on Homes.com and Movoto is what happens when you average a $600,000 South Barrington Green ranch and a $3.3 million Hidden Lakes new-build in the same denominator. The buyer of the ranch is not competing with the buyer of the new-build. The seller of the ranch is not being priced against the same comps.
Track One clears fastest because it is priced against reality. Twelve-month Homes.com data shows 45 days to sale and a 7% year-over-year gain in median sale price. Redfin's broader Barrington-area competitive index shows homes selling in 45 to 48 days and receiving three to five offers, which lines up. When people say South Barrington's market is moving, they are almost always describing Track One transactions.
Track Two sits longer. Movoto's 104-day median December 2025 time on market is a Track Two number. A $2.4 million new-build in a gated community has a smaller buyer pool than an $850,000 remodel in South Barrington Lakes, and pool depth is what compresses days on market. The compensation is that when a Track Two home does clear, it often clears with multiple offers because the buyers who want that specific product have been watching that specific subdivision for months.
Track Three moves on its own schedule, driven by downsizers from Barrington, Long Grove, Inverness, and the northwest suburbs. The Toll floor plans set the price ceiling for the resale market inside the same subdivision, which is why HOA transparency matters more here than architectural preference.
Two homes list at $1,250,000. One is a 1988 Bridlewood estate. One is a Regency at the Woods villa built in 2015. The buyer runs the mortgage math and gets the same principal-and-interest payment. Now add the rest:
The Regency buyer's HOA-plus-tax line is roughly $1,700 per month. The Bridlewood buyer's tax-plus-implicit-maintenance line is roughly $2,500 to $2,800 per month. Same purchase price. Roughly $800 to $1,100 per month difference in what it actually costs to own the home before utilities.
That gap is why the "average" South Barrington monthly carry number that appears on affordability calculators is not useful. There is no average buyer. There is a Track One buyer who is paying for a lot, a Track Two buyer who is paying for a gate and a pond, and a Track Three buyer who is paying to never think about the roof again.
A few things to bring to the second showing regardless of which track a listing sits in:
Is South Barrington actually the $2.1 million market the portal guides describe? Only the top slice of it. The twelve-month median sale price on the same portals runs $1,100,000 to $1,180,000. The $2.1 million and $2.45 million numbers describe list prices weighted by long-marketed new-build inventory.
Which subdivisions have the lowest total monthly carry? Legacy Track One subdivisions with modest HOAs and smaller original footprints, such as portions of South Barrington Lakes and South Barrington Green, typically carry lightest. The 55+ Toll product carries mid-range but with more predictability.
Why do gated new-build listings stay on market so long? Thin buyer pool for the specific product. When a $2M-plus gated home does sell, it often draws multiple offers, but the wait between buyers is measured in months, not weeks.
Is the village-wide "days on market" number useful? Not by itself. Ask for time on market at the subdivision level or at minimum at the track level. The 45-day village figure and the 104-day village figure are both true and describe different buyers.
Pricing a South Barrington home, or figuring out what your budget actually buys inside the village, is not a question you answer with a portal median. It is a question you answer subdivision by subdivision, with the HOA ledger and the tax bill open next to the MLS sheet. Kevin Baum works through that math with sellers and buyers across Barrington and the surrounding Lake and Cook County villages every week. Request your complimentary home valuation to see where your address sits inside the three tracks, and what a strategically priced listing would clear at in the current market.
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