June 3, 2010 - Yesterday we told you that according to the Appraisal Research Counselors’ most recent Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report, over 55% of the downtown new construction Chicago real estate developments sold more units in the first quarter of this year than in the last quarter of last year. Most of those Chicago condos and townhomes that sold were in developments where the original prices were cut by over 50% in some cases.

Here is the other half of the top fourteen best-selling downtown development from the 4th quarter of 2009 to the 1st quarter of 2010.

Pearson on the Park, located on 222 East Pearson Street recorded 20 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

ParkView Condominiums on 505 North McClurg Court made a modest 11 sales the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10 but still landed on this list.

235 West Van Buren also posted 11 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Michigan Avenue Tower II on 1400 South Michigan Avenue also held an auction and made 10 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Prairie District Lofts on 1727 South Indiana Avenue also netted 10 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Parkside of Old Town on 465 West Division Street recently needed an early distribution of TIFF funds and lowered prices but made 10 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Union Row on 622 West 16th Street is the second Belgravia Group development to make the list and had8 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Buyers seemed to need some major price cuts as an incentive to purchase Chicago homes, and there are still plenty of Chicago condos for sale with reductions right now.

Technorati Tags: Union Row, Chicago Homes, Chicago Real Estate Listings

June 2, 2010 – According to Appraisal Research Counselors’ most recent Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report, there were over 55% of the new construction downtown Chicago condo and townhome projects that posted an increase when comparing how many units were sold in the last quarter of 2009 as compared to the first quarter of 2010.

While these sales numbers may seem small, they were the best that these Chicago real estate developments could do in the current housing market. Today we will list seven of teh top fourteen developments that posted the most sales contracts from ARC’s list. The other half will be listed here tomorrow.

565 Quincy lowered their prices and made 59 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

200 North Dearborn also drastically cut prices and made 50 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Library Tower pn 520 South State Street has reverted back to a lender but still made 32 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Museum Park Place South on 1901 South Calumet Avenue in the South Loop posted 28 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

1400 Lake Shore Drive recently auctioned off several units and recorded 26 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Metropolitan Tower, located on 310 South Michigan Avenue made 23 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Emerald on 123 South Green Street made 22 sales from the last quarter of ‘09 to the first quarter of ‘10.

Many of these development are FHA approved and the majority advertised some large price reductions, otherwise those sales numbers probably would have been lower. Even now you can find many Chicago lofts and townhomes being advertised at much lower prices.

Technorati Tags: 565 Quincy, Chicago Lofts, Chicago Real Estate

February 12, 2010 - According to the latest numbers released from Appraisal Research Counselors, downtown Chicago condo sales were up slightly in the fourth quarter. The increase is attributed to Chicago real estate developers making deep price cuts to try and move unsold inventory. Crain’s reports that ARC numbers showed that 148 condos and townhomes were sold during October, November and December 2009. That is 56 more than were sold in the third quarter of 2009. There was also a net sales loss of 253 units in the fourth quarter of 2009.

ARC vice-president Gail Lissner was quoted in Crain’s as saying that buyers won’t start making purchases again until certain conditions fall into place. “They have to be convinced that the market has bottomed out and we’re going to see some price appreciation.”

In all, only 572 Chicago condos and townhomes were sold during the entire year of 2009. That number is even lower than total sales for 2008, which were 592.

The number of unsold condos and townhomes right now is about 3,000 units, which is less than the 4,000 units that were piled up at the end of 2008. ARC states that there will be 2,234 new downtown condos and townhomes completed this year though, which will only add to the oversupply.

It will be interesting to see what 2010 brings for sales of Chicago townhomes and condos. If you check the Chicago real estate listings you’ll see plenty of units available as well as price reductions. And if sales remain sluggish, you’ll probably see more of the same in the coming months.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Townhomes, Chicago Real Estate Listings, Chicago Condos