Homeownership in the United States is dropping, but it's dropping the fastest among the so-called Millennials.
Under age 35, homeonwership rates have dropped to barely more than half of the national average, at 34.1 percent. In itself, that number is a record low. This is being driven by, among other factors, the delaying of life decisions like marriage and high student debt.
That means as their income increases they're driving rental prices up around the country, but it also means they're the most mobile generation in history, able to follow good paying jobs anywhere.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune here.
The booming South Loop will soon have a new retail mall developed amongst the high-rise residential buildings.
The developers behind the new, five-story retail complex at 909 S. Jefferson St. just received their first permits to begin construction. They'll have over 100,000 square feet of commercial space together with two levels of underground parking. It could be open as early as Spring 2017.
Read more at Curbed Chicago here.
Urban Real Estate's own Senior Partner Michael Emery recently sat down with New Eastside News to discuss his role on the local Multiple Listing Service’s (MLS) board of managers, Midwest Real Estate Data, as well as the importance of accurate information available to consumers in regards to the buying and selling of residential real estate.
The consistent effort to provide accurate information via whatever technological advances continues, as Michael believes, "it is imperative that consumers across Chicago and the suburbs we serve have the very best data in their hands to help inform their choices. We know the vast majority of homebuyers begin their search online before connecting with a REALTOR®, and therefore they should have as much accurate information as possible.”
Read more from Michael's featured article here!
The latest numbers show that Chicago is in the midst of a substantial building boom, one that has seen a total investment of $4.22 billion. That's "billion" with a "B".
The numbers, from Dodge Data & Analytics, show a 66 percent increase in Chicago-area construciton through July of this year - and that's for all construction. When residential is separated out the increase is 133 percent since last July. It's the best performance of the ten metro areas which were surveyed, including New York, Los Angeles and Dallas among others.
Read more at Curbed Chicago here.
Local home sales slide dramatically in July, but a closer look at the numbers indicates that the driving factor is the seemingly endless inventory shortage.
In Chicago, sales fell 11.9 percent year-over-year to 2,714 sales though the median price rose 1.9 percent. Condo sales meanwhile, fell 14.8 percent and median price rose 3.9 percent.
But inventory declined from its already low level another 16.4 percent for the Chicagoland area. If inventory continues to decline, prices will still edge up because of stable demand but sales will continue to decline.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune here.
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the hot Northwest Side of the city of Chicago. Buyers have followed the Blue Line that runs out to O'Hare in search of great properties and great prices.
But as places like Logan Square and Avondale have seen prices soar, sales have dipped when measured year-over-year. Two other neighborhoods are now seeing big surges: Portage Park and Belmont Craigin.
Portage Park saw 353 sales in the first seven months of this year, up nearly a third from the previous year. Belmont Craigin, meanwhile, saw a 26 percent increase to a total of 239 sales.
Read more on the trend at Crain's here.