March 9, 2009 – It looks as though the Vetro Chicago condo auction that was held yesterday was a definite success judging from the results made public so far. All of the 40 advertised units sold out on top of 5 more that were added in at the last minute and sold sight unseen. Of those auction day add-ons, two were studios that went for about $160,000 each. Overall, the 45 Vetro condos sold for about $12.1 million according to an article in Crain’s.

The auctioned units were bid up from anywhere between 10% to 35% over the minimum bids listed, which netted the developer and his lender 73% of the original prices on the condos. The average sale price was $258 per square foot, which a representative from the auction service admitted was better than expected. Garry Benson, CEO of Garrison Partners who marketed the event for Accelerated Marketing Partners, speculated as to whether other Chicago real estate developers would opt for auctions on slow moving units because of Vetro’s success.

“The question will be, what is the real depth of the marketplace, and will the next auction produce the same results?” Benson commented in the article. He said that auction prices are typically set in the mid 60% range of what the list prices had been and Vetro’s minimum bids started at 61%. Developer Thomas Rozak and his lender, Corus Bank, are said to be pricing the remaining unsold 60 units in the 31 story, 232 unit building based on the auction results.

The lowest winning bid at the auction was $145,000 for a studio and the two penthouse units were sold for $556,000 and $485,000. The other studio units sold between the $145,000 and $168,000 mark while the 1 bedroom, 1 bath condos went for between $175,00 and $200,000. The 2 bedroom, 2 bath units sold for between $275,000 and $325,000 each. The 2 bedroom plus den, 2.5 bath condos went for between $412,000 and $429,000.

We’ll keep you posted on any new upcoming Chicago Condo Auctions so be sure to check back in with us often.

[tags]Vetro, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.