Archive for the 'Market Conditions' Category

Market Conditions: Case Shiller Confirms Double Dip

The Case Shiller index for March was just released. The 20 city index fell 3.6% year over year. It was the lowest reading since March 2003. Here’s some quick statistics for Chicago: Chicago fell 2.4% month over month It was also down 7.6% year over year We can take solace that Chicago was NOT the worst in the […]

Market Conditions: Chicago Area Homeowners Now Choosing Strategic Default

The Chicago Tribune explored the phenomenom of “strategic default” over the weekend.  We already chattered about it a bit over the weekend in one of the other posts but I thought others might want to get into the conversation. A “strategic default” is where the homeowner still has the means to pay the mortgage but […]

Market Conditions: YOY April Sales Decline 26.2% in Chicago; Median Price Continues to Slide

The data for April home sales is out.  Remember, last year was still influenced by the tax credit. Buyers had to be under contract by the end of April (but didn’t have to close until June.) The IAR is, for the second month in a row, choosing to separate out some of the Chicago condo […]

Market Conditions: Downtown Apartment Rents Near 2007 High

Crain’s recently reported on downtown Class A apartment rents, which were up again in the first quarter of 2011 and are nearing 2007 peak pricing. “We’re going to see good rent increases for the next two years, and then, when the next wave of supply hits, it will taper back,” says Ron DeVries, vice-president of […]

Market Conditions: Discuss Case Shiller Here

I don’t do posts on the Case Shiller data but I know you all like to discuss it. So I figured I’d give you a post in which to post your views. Remember, Case Shiller is backward looking since the data is from several months ago.

Market Conditions: The Upper Bracket in the Chicago Housing Market is Hot, Hot, Hot

We’ve been chattering for awhile that the upper bracket in the Chicago housing market seems to be much stronger than other tiers of housing. Recently, a $4 million house sold (actually closed) in Lincoln Park. Several other multi-million dollar condos have also sold and one priced at nearly $10 million is under contract. Reuters explains […]

Market Conditions: YOY Data Shows Price Declines: Sellers Still Not Willing to “Give It Away”

Over the weekend, the Chicago Tribune reported on the Chicago area housing market using CoreLogic’s data for over 200 zip codes. As we’ve been chattering about the last few months, it appears that the Chicago housing market has taken a turn for the worse since the beginning of this year. “The prospects are dim in the […]

Market Conditions: Chicago Sales Fall 20.1% in March Year Over Year

Sorry about the delay in posting the latest sales data but I had the wrong date for the release so I missed it by a day. (whoops!) As expected, March homes sales slid 20.1% compared to 2010 which was boosted by the home buyer tax credit. The median home price also fell. From the Illinois Association […]

Market Conditions: Will 2011 Mark the End of the Chicago Housing Bust?

The Chicago Tribune’s Mary Umberger recently interviewd Barbara Corcoran, the NY real estate mogul who started her own real estate brokerage with $1,000 and sold it for $70 million. She is now the Today Show’s real estate contributor. While she didn’t talk directly about the Chicago market, I thought some of her comments were interesting given […]

CoreLogic: Chicagoland February Single Family Home Prices Fell 10.4% YOY

CoreLogic released its February single family home sales data which showed Chicagoland prices dropped 10.4% year over year, the second largest drop in the country. (Chicagoland extends out to Naperville and Joliet.) But CoreLogic also provided data stripping out the distress sales- which would result in home prices declining just 0.37% year over year. The big […]