Downtown condo sales drop by 83%!!! (Chicago, Time: foreclosure, to rent, loft)

[aragx6]

Actually I wouldn't be that surprised if there were more on the market last year! Anyone know?

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Actually I wouldn't be that surprised if there were more on the market last year! Anyone know?

There is a huge inventory of condos. More than last year. Some have been taken off the market beacause they got "stale." It's a buyer's market.

New construction (in progress) -- there's talk that some of the projects will be put on hold soon due to lack of pre-sales; without sufficient pre-sales, other financing is required to complete the project, and financing is tight.

Condos built (or rental buildings that went condo) prior to 1990 are the best deal. It's not a crash on LV or California level, but the inventory is very large.

[Ron.]

Good point, because that's the only group that will probably buy.

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

It makes sense. If I wanted to shell out $600,000 to millions of dollars for a downtown condo, I'd probably wait to make that investment until the waters looked safer. It will be interesting to see how many foreigners that Irish Spire developer can dupe into buying Streeterville condos at more than $1000/square foot...

[STLCardsBlues1989]

What about other cities? Are they also experiencing a slow in growth?

[Ron.]

I am not sure about other cities. I usually keep up with the Chicago business scene. That's why I posted this.

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

What about other cities? Are they also experiencing a slow in growth?

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

What about other cities? Are they also experiencing a slow in growth?

Las Vegas is bad. Speculators bought multiple homes with a view toward "flipping" them and now can't. Lots of "fire sales" and foreclosures.

Miami also, other spots in Florida.

San Diego and parts of L.A., but those were so over priced to begin with, they still are even with reductions in prices.

Detroit, Cleveland...no comment required.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

What about other cities? Are they also experiencing a slow in growth?

The issue in this case isn't a slowdown in growth. Chicago proper's population has been pretty stagnant for a couple of decades now, though it will be interesting to see what the 2010 official census reveals. The problem is overdevelopment, plain and simple. A lot of developers greatly overestimated future demand when these projects got off the ground a couple years ago.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I guess every city is affected.

From what I've seen St. Louis hasn't been terribly affected, but it seems the cities hit the hardest are the ones that saw the greatest boom. St. Louis has some new loft developments still in the work, so hopefully there won't be overdevelopment. Most of it is rehab, though, so they're reusing old stores and office buildings. St. Louis condos will often also be cheaper than Chicago condos (1 BRs can go from $120k on up). If a condo or loft is cheaper it might not be as scary to risk buying a place.

It's probably just the market. Condo sales will probably start to go up, but it'll take a while.

By the way you hear Chicago talked about it's like it's the fastest growing city on the planet, nothing can go wrong, and it's the safest as well.
But maybe that's just here.

Then you hear stuff about corrupt Chicago politics.

[Drover]

When people talk about Chicago's growth, they're usually talking about the metropolitan area, which is in fact growing pretty quickly. It's the only metro area in the top 10 in terms of growth that's not in the sun belt. And the people here who claim Chicago is 'safe' usually do so in reference to a specific neighborhood someone is asking about. Nobody on these boards is dense enough to believe the entire city is safe.

[M4rT1N]

Chicago Tribune article on the subject....

Record condo numbers to saturate downtown -- -- chicagotribune.com