Memo to Shrewd Condo Investors: Buy in Chicago
Any report on the condo development market routinely lists cities such as Miami and Las Vegas as the touchstones of a market gone mad. It’s just as easy to point to Chicago, where conversion of disused and historic office buildings has fueled a resurgent and, some say, overbuilt urban center.
But unlike those other places, Chicago’s developers can’t rely on tourists, snowbirds or fun-seekers to fill their new residential buildings.
That relatively steady market has its benefits, says Gail Lissner, a vice president at Appraisal Research Corp., a local real estate marketing and research firm. “We don’t have peaks and valleys, the craziness that you see in Vegas and on the coasts,” she says.
That said, prices for Chicago condominiums have been holding firm, although sales volume dropped off at least 10% in 2006 from a record year in 2005. With more projects still in the pipeline, construction costs rising and lenders beginning to tighten the reins, high-quality Chicago developments offer some good values relative to other markets.
