Chicago Real Estate – Downtown Chicago condo’s remain a buyers market with excess inventory that still needs to be absorbed. Sales volume of downtown condominiums did inch higher however in the previous quarter as developers continued to cut prices to bring in buyers.
Downtown builders sold 148 condos and townhomes in the last three months of 2009, up from 56 units in the third quarter and a net loss of 253 sales in fourth-quarter 2009, when a large number of buyers canceled sales contracts, according to Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm.
The reality for the downtown market is that it won’t stage a meaningful comeback until the job market recovers and buyers overcome their fear of further price declines.
Developers are still sitting on about 3,000 unsold condos and townhomes that have been completed or are under construction, although that is down from about 4,000 at the end of the previous year. Overall buyers still have to be convinced that the market has bottomed and eventually their will be an uptick in appreciation. Savvy buyers however with all the excess inventory are able to really negotiate some sweet heart deals.
It was an otherwise miserable year for developers, who sold just 572 units in 2009, even fewer than the 592 they sold in 2008, previously the worst year for the downtown condo market since 1997, when Appraisal Research began tracking it.
But the supply picture is slowly improving as construction slows and developers chip away at the pile of unsold units built during the boom of the last decade. The projects that are selling downtown developers are relying on heavy discounting and in some cases auctions to stimulate demand.
The following properties are an updated list of some of the units currently available in the downtown Chicago market. To inquire about any properties in the downtown Chicago condo market call 312-433-9300 x 10 for complimentary consultation on condos in Chicago.
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