The city of Chicago has officially issued a permit for downtown's newest attraction, the bigger and better Navy Pier Ferris Wheel.
The new attraction will stand 50-feet taller than the Ferris Wheel that now stands on Navy Pier. The pier is the state's top tourist attraction with 8.5 million visitors in 2014. The project celebrates the pier's 100th birthday.
Chicago was the home of the first wheel, invented and installed for the World's Columbia Exposition 1893 and invented by Engineer George Washington Gale Ferris. This new Ferris wheel won't be that tall but will be about 200 feet and feature 42 temperature-controlled carriages.
According to a new study from Bankrate, millennials are facing some substantial obstacles to home buying. In fact, the obstacles are so large that nearly a third are putting off a home purchase.
But it's not all bad news, according to the National Association of REALTORS, millennials account for 32 percent of all home purchases last year - that's important because first-time homebuyers initiate the chain of sales of move-up buyers.
Some of the obstacles for that third that isn't buying? Stagnant wages and high student debt.
For more, head over to Chicago Agent Magazine here.
The latest news on the city's real estate (aside from year-over-year increases in practically everything) is that condos are selling fast.
Crain's Dennis Rodkin has a report out that cites data from the MLS to show that condos sold in June in an average of 61 days, faster than any time since January 2007.
And if they're priced properly in a handful of very hot neighborhoods (think the West Loop, River North, Ukrainian Village) then they sell, in some cases, the same day they're listed.
The median sale price of a condo in the city was $323,000 in June, up 4.2 percent from the previous year. Single family houses appreciated faster, up 8.9 percent to a media price of $225,000.
For more, head here.
Foreclosures continue to drop across the nation, according to the June 2015 report from CoreLogic.
Nationally, foreclosure inventory fell 28.9 percent year-over-year and is now only 1.2 percent of the market. Completed foreclosures dropped 14.8 percent.
In Illinois, foreclosure inventory dropped .8 percent year-over-year to 1.6 percent and in Chicago it dropped .9 percent to 1.8 percent. That's a big positive sign for the city and state.
Read more here.
Last week we unveiled the top-selling suburbs for the first six months of the year. Now we give you the top-selling city neighborhoods for the first half of 2015.
Leading the pack was the Near North Side with 1,346 total sales. Trailing in second was West Town with 891 and Lincoln Park with 796.
As usual, when the data is adjusted for single family home sales, the results look very different. The top neighborhood for single family homes was Ashburn with 235 sales followed by Portage Park with 199 and Dunning with 198.
For more, head over to Chicago Agent Magazine here.