Lakeview (Chicago) Condos & Townhomes Chicago Home Buzz

Total condos and townhomes units sold in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood were down 37% with 245 units sold in the fourth quarter, 2008 compared with 391 units sold in the fourth quarter, 2007. The median sales prices were down 9% to $315.000 from $347,000 in 2007 4Q and the average condo and townhome prices were down 36% in 2008 to $241,592 compared with $376,131 in 2007. Average market time was up 9% to 104 days.

Listen to the local professionals and look at the real numbers when trying to make sense of today's real estate market and your local micro-real estate economy. Even these numbers cannot be read on face value. Drill downs are required!


For more information and a Chicago Home Buzz market report visitwww.ChicagoHomeBuzz.com where this data will be available soon.

Jim

Gold Coast Old Town (Chicago) Market Report Fall, 2008

Chicago Home Buzz Market ReportMarket Snapshot of Gold Coast/Old Town (Chicago) condos for Fall Quarter, 2008 ChicagoHomeBuzz.com

The total number of Lincoln Park , Chicago condos sold for the third quarter, 2008 was 614 units compared with 846 units in 2007 down 27% from the previous year and down 10% since 2003.

The median sales prices of Gold Coast/Old Town (Chicago) condos for the same quarter was $397,000 compared with $377,000 in 2007 up 5% from the previous year and up 23% since 2003.

The average sales price of Gold Coast/Old Town (Chicago) condos for the same quarter was $540,821 compared with $526,148 in 2007 up 3% from the previous year and up 38% since 2003. Note the disparity between median and average prices showing the skewed effect the higher priced Gold COast condos has on the average price figures.

The average market time of Gold Coast/Old Town (Chicago) condos for the same quarter was 144 days compared with 119 days in 2007 up 21% from the previous year and up 129% since 2003.

For a full neighborhood and city wide report visit www.ChicagoHomeBuzz.com

Lincoln Park Single-family homes Fall, 2008

Market Snapshot of Lincoln Park (Chicago) single-family homes for Fall Quarter, 2008 ChicagoHomeBuzz.com

The total number of Lincoln Park , Chicago single-family homes sold for the third quarter, 2008 was 47 units compared with 53 units in 2007 down 11% from the previous year and down 10% since 2003.

The median sales prices of Lincoln Park , Chicago single-family homes for the same quarter was $1,300,000 compared with $1,425,000 in 2007 down 9% from the previous year and up 17% since 2003.

The average sales price of Lincoln Park , Chicago single-family homes for the same quarter was $1,528,101 compared with $1,719,981 in 2007 down 11% from the previous year and up 31% since 2003.

The average market time of Lincoln Park , Chicago single-family homes for the same quarter was 163 days compared with 174 days in 2007 down 6% from the previous year and up 159% since 2003.

For a full neighborhood and city wide report visit www.ChicagoHomeBuzz.com

Chicago Home Sales Activity for the Third Quarter, 2008: The Chicago Home Buzz

Beware of summaries. They are for losers. Beware of the pessimist or the optimist. Look for the micro-economist in your neighborhood. This is an historic time in our national economy and it really is incredible to watch since it is directly affecting each and every one of us. General summaries and market data are for losers and we frown on them. Why? Real estate operates in a local economy. Block by block, street by street, subdivision by subdivision. One street could be booming and the next street busting. Beware the pessimists or the optimists. Look for the micro-economist in your neighborhood. Look at our median sales summary in our Chicago Home Buzz report: Median prices up almost 25%! Wow! This economy is doing great! Read on…summary points of view are worthless such as our summary used as an example of skewed data. The media in their infinitely diluted viewpoint continues to under report (or over sensationalize) the actual state of the real estate market. To their defense, it is impossible to write detailed reporting on the market because the real estate market operates on both a macro and micro level. Even when you get down to what you think is a micro-level, Gold Coast goes and screws everything up! The real estate macro-economic condition is obviously just as important to each of us as what is happening in our back yards as evident by the turmoil in the markets. I’ll refrain from getting into details about why we are where we are but needless to say “A” grade securities which included junk, sub-prime mortgages (mortgages given to people who had no right getting a loan) were traded on Wall Street and across the global market at a hugely profitable speed and no regulator or moderator or Hedge Fund manager wanted that gravy train to stop. Trillions were made just as trillions were just lost in these past few weeks. That said, let’s focus on what the crux of this Chicago Market report is about. Our LOCAL MICRO-ECONOMY. Chicago as compared to national indexes is doing well in many areas, and not so well in others. Our report focuses on the north side of Chicago with a focus on SINGLE FAMILY homes in the Fall Quarter, 2008 compared with Fall Quarter, 2007. Median Price Activity for the Third Quarter, 2008 in Chicago: Taking the Gold Coast/Loop out of the equation, median sales prices for the quarter dropped almost 14% to $412,444 down from $470,141 in 2007. If you add that area back in there is actually a 24.4% increase in median price, but that is because the single-family home median sales price had a few large transactions pushing the median price for the entire North Section up. All other areas showed a decline of median prices compared with last year with the WEST area leading the decline with an average 85% price drop on sales from $228,867 down to only $123,481. This is in large part due to the number of foreclosures leading the sales in this area. West Garfield Park led the decline in a staggering display of depreciation for the area with 5 units sold (up from only 3 in 2007) but a drop in median price from $189,000 down to a paltry $12,500, a 93% decline in median price. North Lawndale (down 78%), East Garfield Park (down 73%) and Humbolt Park (down 53%) were among the area leaders of decline in value. On the positive side, once again one of my HEAVY BULLISH neighborhoods (for condos, multi-unit or single-family investments) continues to be Lakeview in the LAKESHORE area. Median Prices saw a whopping 15% INCREASE from $1,041,250 up to $1,200,000 (average prices too saw an increase up 13%). Rogers Park too saw an unexpected increase in median price single-family homes up 11% from the previous quarter with a median sales price of $456,000. The bad news there was it took an increased market time average of 279 days UP 862% from 2007’s short 29 day market average. The leading declining area for the quarter was Uptown , West Ridge and Lincoln Square (down 21%, 18% and 17% ) for the area. Overall however, the Lakeshore section was down 5% for the quarter. Very little good news for the NORTHWEST section with the area prices down 18% from a median sale price of $387,450 to $329,357. The good news was the area saw good sales volume in units (there are deals to be had). The NORTH CENTRAL section saw Avondale and Albany Park leading area decliners down 30% and 23% but West Town (Wicker Park/Ukranian Village) saw a 5% increase in median price up to $727,000 for a median price home up from $690,000 last year. Bucktown/Logan Square too saw a slight uptick in median prices to $693,000 from $670,000 last year (average prices jumped 15% to $804,804 from $702,666 last year). Unit Activity: Total units sold is down only 70 units across the North Section (-8.5%). The NORTHWEST section of the city is only showing 3% less units sold down from 296 to 286. In that same section, Norwood Park saw a 15% jump in sales from 54 units up to 62 and Dunning saw a significant uptick from 56 units sold in 2007 to 70 this quarter, 2008. However, some losers on units sold were Edison Park with a whopping 48% decline in units sold down to 14 units from 27 in 2007 and Jefferson Park down almost 30% from 45 units to only 32 this past quarter. Moving to the CENTRAL area, Avondale saw a whopping 183 increase in units sold up from 6 in 2007 to 17 in 2008 but the area saw an overall decline of 5% for the quarter. The WEST section saw an overall drop of 12% but areas like Belmont Cragin and Humbolt Park where single-family homes abound saw significant drops in unit volume down 30% and 13% respectively. The NORTH section dropped from 179 units to 170 however, the big news there is Avondale (while median prices are down 30%) saw a 183% increase in units sold from 6 to 17 with people most likely taking advantage of the buyers market and finding those deals which are out there. Summaries are for losers. We already know there are pockets (and even pockets within the pockets we are reporting) where there are signs of growth in this dismal market. Overall for the City on the North section market times were longer (up 27.46%) to 185 days with no one area really better than the other. Uptown was the only neighborhood that saw an average market time below 100 at 93 days (down 36% from 2007). However, taking the skewed Gold Coast out of the microscope we can get a better glimpse of the actual numbers for the quarter. Total units sold were down 7.7% from 870 to 808. The median sales price dropped almost 14% with a few exceptions such as Uptown, Bucktown/Logan Square and West Town/Wicker Park which all showed a positive gain in median sales price compared to 3rd quarter 2007. If we do add the Gold Coast back in to the report we are really looking at a very positive gain in median prices for the quarter up 24.39%.

Beware of summaries. They are for losers. Beware of the pessimists or the optimists.

Look for the micro-economist in your neighborhood.

Chicago's Quarterly Housing Market Report

The latest Chicago Home BUZZ report has almost been completed (just awaiting final few weeks of the year) but the results are staggering. The overall decrease from 2006 to 2007 in the fourth quarter was over 130% decrease in total sales volume from just one year ago.

Some of the leading declines in the City of Chicago included the Bucktown/Logan Square (60647) neighborhoods where there was an almost 300% decrease in single-family (detached) home sales from $32,898,835 in total sales in 2006 down to only $8,214,800 for the fourth quarter (2007). The Hyde Park neighborhood (60619) saw single-family homes drop from $3.6M down to under $1M in sales, down 287%.

Rogers Park condominiums saw only 45 sales last quarter, an over 230% decrease from the prior years 149 units.

The suburbs saw some areas with even worse showings including single-family sales in Highland Park where only four homes sold last quarter totaling $1,753,600 in sales down over a whopping 400% from the $8,888,000 last year.

Over all total sales volume for the quarter was $1.5 billion down over 130% from the $3.5 billions last year.

For more information and a free quarterly update of your neighborhood visit our Chicago HOME BUZZ page at http://www.chicagohomebuzz.com and see all the data and statistics.

If you'd like an Interactive Market Update of your neighborhood request a Market Snapshot

Finally, if you'd like us to mail you a copy of the Chicago Home Buzz report quarterly just drop us a line 

Stay tuned for more....

Michigan Avenue Development Dead

Citing worries about the slumping downtown condominium market, Miami developer Peebles Corp. has walked away from a prime Michigan Avenue site where it had planned to build a 50-story condo and hotel tower.
Peebles had signed a contract this spring to pay about $32 million for the site at 300 N. Michigan Ave., currently home to a Walgreens, a Subway and a Radio Shack (Crain's, April 14).

But the developer "felt a bit uncomfortable" with the weak high-end condo market and decided to back out a couple of weeks ago, says Barron Channer, Peebles' vice-president of development.

"We're not moving forward with it, but we're still looking aggressively in the market," he says. "We want to do something that's more in scale with where we think the market is."

from Crain's Chicago Business

May home sales in Chicago down almost 21%

Home sales in the Chicago area plummeted 20.7% last month compared with May 2006, according to the Illinois Assn. of Realtors.

A total of 9,750 single-family homes and condominiums were sold in the nine-county Chicago area last month, with the median home price rising 1.2% from the year-earlier period to $252,388. The biggest drop in sales last month occurred in outlying DeKalb, Grundy and McHenry counties. Sales in Cook County fell 20.1%.

Through May, sales in the nine-county area were down 17.4% from last year to 38,423, according to the association.

The home-sales figures were more grim nationwide.

Sales of existing homes fell in May to the lowest level in four years while the median home price dropped for a record 10th consecutive month.

The National Assn. of Realtors reported that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.3% to 5.99 million in May, the slowest sales pace since June of 2003.

The median price of a home sold last month dropped to $223,700, down 2.1% from a year ago. It marked the 10th straight price decline compared with a year ago, the longest stretch of weakness on record.

The sales decline reflected weakness in the South, where sales dropped by 3.4%, and the West, where sales were down by 0.8%. Sales actually showed strength in the Northeast, rising by 5.8%, and the Midwest, where they were up 0.7%. In a troubling sign for the future, the inventory of unsold homes rose by 5% to 4.43 million units in May, a level that would take 8.9 months to clear out at the May sales pace. That is the highest inventory level since the last deep slump in housing in 1992.

Analysts said housing is being hurt by high inventories and the recent crisis in subprime mortgages, which has caused lenders to tighten their standards, making it harder for potential buyers to qualify for loans.

They said all of the housing troubles seem to be causing a crisis in confidence, making people delay decisions to buy homes.

"I think psychological factors are currently the biggest drag on the housing market, in addition to a disruption from tighter credit for subprime borrowers," said Lawrence Yun, senior economist with the Realtors.

The current slump in housing is the worst since the 1989-92 downturn. It is occurring after a prolonged boom that saw sales of new and existing homes set new records for five consecutive years.

Analysts believe that the median home price, the midpoint where half the homes sold for more and half for less, will continue falling until builders move further to cut back on production of new homes coming on the market.

The Realtors are predicting that the median home price will decline by 1.3% this year while sales are forecast to drop by 4.6%. It would be the first annual price decline in four decades of record-keeping.

Another potential problem is mortgage rates, which have been trending higher in recent weeks although they still remain below their historical averages.

According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for 30-year mortgages was 6.26% in May, up from 6.18% in April.

(From AP, staff)

Mega South Loop Development

3,000 housing units, hotel on drawing board for vacant riverside site

Two Chicago developers aim to build as many as 3,000 homes, a hotel, stores and a marina along the Chicago River just south of downtown, transforming an 8-acre tract that has sat empty for 36 years into a densely packed urban neighborhood.

Estimated to cost $1.6 billion, the 3.5-million-square-foot project four blocks south of the Sears Tower would mark a big step forward in the South Loop's residential renaissance and bring life to a dead stretch of the Chicago River. Sources say the developers, Rokas International Inc. and Frankel & Giles, have agreed to pay about $55 million for the parcel, which, like Block 37 in the central Loop, has stubbornly resisted development.

"That site is a gaping hole," says architect Dirk Lohan of Chicago-based Lohan Anderson, who did planning work there in the early 1990s.

The question is whether Rokas and Frankel & Giles can succeed where others have failed. It's unclear whether the city will grant them the zoning change they need to build such a dense project, which would jam into the site about a million square feet more than current zoning allows. The developers, who decline to comment, also plan to ask the city for about $25 million in tax-increment financing to help pay for a riverwalk and other infrastructure, a source says.

Another challenge: the slumping condo market, which could make financing the development difficult.

Designed by Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture, the project would include as many as eight buildings — one exceeding 80 stories — and about 125,000 square feet of retail space. The residential component would be a mix of condos, apartments and senior housing. A hotel, with as many as 500 rooms, and a 40-slip marina would round out the complex.

With its riverside location and proximity to downtown and public transit, "it's a great piece of real estate," says Peter Dumon, president of Harp Group Inc., an Oakbrook Terrace-based development firm that has reviewed the latest proposal for the property.

Yet he declined an offer to develop the hotel in the project, noting that hotel guests are unlikely to venture south of the Congress Expressway. Harp instead is considering buying development rights for an apartment tower on the site.

Known as Franklin Point, the property is the former site of Grand Central Station, a rail terminal demolished in 1971. The developers have signed contracts to buy the tract from Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad company CSX Corp., which owns 6 acres of the site, and D2 Realty Services Inc., which owns about 2 acres. CSX did not return calls. David Kleiman, a D2 principal, declined to discuss terms.

SEEKING APPROVAL

The developers are negotiating with city officials over rezoning the property and will also need support from neighborhood groups and Alderman Bob Fioretti (2nd).

Then there's the challenge of selling enough condos to land a loan for the project. The condo glut could ease by then, but the supply of unsold units downtown reached 6,507 at the end of the first quarter, up 62% from a year earlier, according to Chicago-based consultancy Appraisal Research Counselors.

Founded in 2000 by Lithuanian immigrant Andrius Augunas, Rokas has developed several smaller condominium projects in the South Loop but nothing on the scale of Franklin Point. Frankel & Giles, which also specializes in the South Loop, has a longer résumé, including a 274-unit condo tower at Prairie Avenue and 18th Street.

If it comes to fruition, the Franklin Point project would anchor and enliven the western edge of the South Loop, where residential development has been slow to take off. D2 Realty proposed a less-dense project there than the current proposal but dropped the plan about two years ago amid an impasse in talks with the city. In the early 1990s, Harris Bancorp Inc. scratched plans to build a back-office building on the site.

"It's kind of like Block 37," says Mr. Kleiman, referring to the central Loop parcel that is finally being developed after a 15-year delay. "Hopefully, this will be the time."

©2007 by Crain Communications Inc.

Uptown Theatre Rocks

After years of neglect, groups fighting over it

The historic Uptown Theatre, which has defied redevelopment attempts and slowed the resurgence of its neighborhood since closing in 1981, is suddenly a hot property.

Local concert promoter Jerry Mickelson and Block 37 developer Joseph Freed & Associates LLC are battling a group led by real estate investor David Husman over control of the foreclosed 1920s-era landmark, which also has attracted the attention of national concert promoters.

Mr. Mickelson, co-founder of Jam Productions Ltd., wants to restore the 4,500-seat theater, which once hosted Prince, the Grateful Dead and other big acts, as a concert venue. In a foreclosure sale, a buyer may have to pay upward of $3.5 million to satisfy the outstanding mortgages, liens and money the city is owed for repairs. Renovation would cost about $40 million.

The fight for control of the theater reflects the Uptown neighborhood's improving fortunes. That revival would gain momentum from a redevelopment of the cavernous 1925 movie palace, which sits prominently on Broadway, Uptown's main drag.

Click link for full story from Crain's Chicago Business

Home sales fall even faster in 1st quarter

No bottom in sight as new-home slide accelerates


Dashing hopes that the housing slump would soon bottom out, new-home sales in the Chicago area fell even faster in the first quarter as the market meltdown spread from the suburbs to the city.

Residential developers in the Chicago area sold 5,341 homes in the quarter, down 35% from a year earlier and the weakest showing in more than 11 years, according to a report by Tracy Cross & Associates Inc., a Schaumburg-based real estate consulting firm. City sales, which held up better than the suburban market last year, plummeted to 1,170 units, a 44% drop from the year-earlier period and the lowest volume in 15 quarters.

"Everybody was waiting for spring," when buyers re-emerge, but "it just didn't come," says Tracy Cross, president of the firm. "This is definitely the steepest downturn we've seen" since the early 1980s.

Recession is rippling through the homebuilding industry, one of the area's biggest employers, with nearly 285,000 workers, from architects to carpenters. Contractors and developers have slashed payrolls and stopped building houses on "spec," meaning before finding a buyer. Many are cutting prices to goose demand, and the median sale price for single-family homes fell 1.7% to $299,470, the report shows.

Experts predicted the new-home market would hit bottom this spring after six straight quarters of falling sales. But recovery now appears further away, particularly in the city, where developers continue to build despite the precipitous drop in sales.

"We've seen continued softening in April," says Dan Star, Illinois division president for Dallas-based Centex Corp., which sold 1,150 homes in the Chicago area last year. "Traffic is down. Contracts are down. I think this will go on for another six months or year or longer."

Centex's local workforce is about half the size it was at the peak of the housing boom in 2005, when it employed "well over" 200 people, Mr. Star says. The company's Chicago-area sales in the most recent quarter were roughly flat, he says, declining to disclose specific sales or employment figures.

Demand started falling in 2005 as rising interest rates, combined with lofty prices, put homes out of reach for many buyers. Builders are likely feeling the after-effects of the ultra-low interest rates that drew large numbers of buyers into the market earlier in the decade but left little demand for later years. Mr. Cross estimates that as many as 7,000 local apartment renters a year became buyers during the boom, a number close to zero now.

Recent turmoil in the subprime lending market also may be crimping demand, as tighter lending standards make it harder for people to finance home purchases, Mr. Star says. Compounding those woes is the growing reluctance of consumers to buy homes in a declining market.

The first-quarter sales decline was the sharpest since the downturn began, according to Tracy Cross. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, sales slid to 18,927 units, down 26% from 22,226 in the previous quarter and 46% from the peak of 35,264 in second-quarter 2005.

As suburban sales tumbled last year, the city held up relatively well, logging its second-best year ever. That changed in the first quarter, when city sales fell 44% vs. 32% in the suburbs.

The supply of unsold condominiums in downtown high-rises under construction is growing even as demand is declining. Speculators — investors who buy condos to flip them for quick profit — fueled the boom but have all but disappeared from the market. And developers are likely to face stiff competition from the resale market, as thousands of owners of recently built condos put their units back up for sale, Mr. Cross says.

"You should see continued erosion in the city," he says.

The Chicago Home Buzz is already printed and mailed and the stats in our report shows a 35% reduction in sales compared to ehe previous quarter. For a copy of our CHB report email me!

©2007 by Crain Communications Inc