Chicago Condo Sales are Down

Chicago Condo Sales are Down
I read this report about the area market, since the news is very quite about housing these days the numbers are adding up. Please let us bottom out soon. We would love a great 2011 in Real Estate.
From Crain’s:

“We’re just continuing to plod along,” says Appraisal Research Vice-president Gail Lissner.
A recovery could be years away, but developers, with 406 sales in the first six months of the year, are still ahead of their pace in 2009, when they sold just 572 units during the whole year.
That’s still a fraction of the 8,162 units downtown developers sold in 2005, before the housing bubble burst and the economy plunged into its deepest recession since the 1930s.
“With the tax credit expired, continued concerns about the economy and job market, worries about the stability of housing prices, and the difficulty in selling an existing residence and securing financing, many buyers continue to remain on the sidelines for the near term,” the Appraisal Research report says.

Belgravia Group’s President and CEO Alan Lev echoed what many have chattered about here: it’s going to be a LONG time before any new condo towers are constructed.

Mr. Lev expects that it will be five to 10 years before a developer breaks ground on a major downtown condo tower. In the meantime, Belgravia is scouting for distressed uncompleted condo projects that it can buy at a discount and finish itself.
The developer, for instance, is acquiring 18 out of 34 unsold units in a vintage condominium conversion in Lakeview and plans to offer them for about $300,000 to $500,000 apiece, down from the original developer’s $500,000 to $700,000.
“That’s the kind of stuff we’re going to be doing for a couple years,” Mr. Lev says. “You won’t have us developers to kick around.”

Downtown condo sales lag as tax credits end [Crain’s Chicago Business, Alby Gallun, August 16, 2010]