Crib Chatter

Since we seem to talk quite a bit about the luxury market here, I thought it might be interesting to see what one of the biggest luxury builders is saying about the market.  Toll Brothers builds single family homes and townhomes, for the most part, and not large condominium buildings.  But what they have to say about the market is still interesting because a large percentage of downtown Chicago buyers are homeowners in the suburbs who want to move to the city (or simply buy a second home in the city.)

The numbers aren’t good.  (Surprise!)  Yesterday, Toll said sales were down 35% from a year ago.  CNNMoney reports:

Toll Brothers said higher-priced homes suffered the worst cancellation rates, as the average price of the 417 canceled contracts during the quarter was $788,000.

“We continue to believe that excess supply created by cancellations, speculative buyers, and overly ambitious builders; customer concerns about selling their existing homes; and a general lack of confidence are the primary impediments to our market’s recovery,” said a statement from company Chairman and CEO Robert Toll.

The slowdown is definitely affecting the upper bracket market. Heck, all you have to do is see all of the million dollar homes for sale in Lakeview to know that sales have really slowed. 

For instance, there are about 130 single family homes for sale over $1 million in Lakeview right now.  How long will it take to sell this million dollar inventory?  At the current pace, a long time. 

There are some gorgeous houses for sale right now however (as the pictures attest.)  All of the pictured houses are currently on the market in the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Lakeview.