Suburban Chicago out-performed the city in the first quarter of 2016, with sales rising 5.5 percent from the previous year, according to the latest data.
Taken as a whole, the nine-county metro area saw a more modest increase of .8 percent year-over-year. The median sale price rose 4 percent to $210,000.
The city of Chicago saw an overall decline in the number of sales from the previous year, 3.4 percent but median price was up 3.3 percent to $268,500.
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here.
A tower, that would be the South Loop's tallest, cleared the Chicago Plan Commission yesterday, bringing it one step closer to construction.
Designed by Helmut Jahn, the 73-story tower proposed for 1000 S. Michigan would feature 506 total units split between rental apartments and condominiums, the latter on the higher floors.
The building will also have 486 parking spaces, a 13,000 square foot green roof and 2,700 square feet of ground floor retail space.
Read more at Curbed Chicago here.
When it comes to home ownership, Millennials aspire to it just as much as previous generations. A new study suggests that for the average Millennial, they may need to save for a decade to afford the down payment for a starter home.
In a city-by-city comparison, however, Chicago is both more affordable and the data suggests that Millennials think they need a larger down payment than they actually do.
According to the report from Apartment List, Millennials surveyed believe that the average down payment in Chicago is $22,640 when, in fact, it's slightly lower, at $19,590.
Compare that with the worst city in the list, San Francisco, where Millennials surveyed believed they needed $69,650 when, in fact, they need $142,800.
At average savings rates for the age bracket it will take Millennials more than 27 years to save for that first down payment, versus only 5.4 in Chicago.
Check of the full story at Curbed Chicago here.
Chicago's Loop and Downtown area is among the top residential boom towns in the country, according to a new study from Realtor.com.
The study examined job growth, household formation and housing starts in zip codes across the country and 60603 zip code rated number 9. The next five years are expected to see household growth of 18.9 percent with 6,000 total housing starts and 38,000 new jobs.
“The strength of the residential real estate market is closely correlated to growth in jobs and households,” said Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist for Realtor.com. “The good news for these markets is that these growth factors have already started to translate into new construction. At the same time, it may be a year or so before some markets on our list start seeing an increase in inventory. If anything, this is a road map for where builders should be thinking about where to break ground next.”
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here.
Each year Chicago Agent Magazine puts together a market handbook. In print and online, the handbook brings together a variety of data related to sales in markets across the city and suburbs.
They also reach out to agents to add valuable insight and help interpret the data. Among those quoted were Urban Real Estate's very own partner Kelly Smith.
"In the past six months the majority of my clients have been coming from the tech sector," Smith told Chicago Agent Magazine. "A few years ago it was Groupon employees who I would see at my open houses; now it's Google and smaller start-ups coming into the Chicago market. I think overall the tech sector is probably going to be the driving sector in 2016 and years to come."
Check out Smith's quote here and the full handbook starts here.