Breaking down South Loop attached condo / town house sales (unit sales down about 20%)

South Loop attached units sales (condos, town homes) January 1st to May 19th.

South Loop attached unit sales and median price has dipped year to year. Unit sales are down about 20% and median price down about $15,000. These are pretty steady numbers considering the pause when the pandemic was declared. 

198 condos and attached town homes have sold so far this year. The median price of a closed unit is about $370,000.  Median price for one bedroom units is about $265,000, two beds about $400,000, three beds jumps to about $682,000 and four beds or more about $800K.

246 units sold over the same period in 2019 with a median price of about $385,000.

April and May Closings
49 units closed in April this year while 68 units closed in 2019.  23 units closed from May 1st to May 19th this year while 47 units sold over the same period in 2019. 


I've been reading many indicators that this may be the bottom of the coronavirus affected sales. Our MREDLLC.com / Chicago Association of Realtor stats indicate that Chicago purchase contracts have been up for four straight weeks.

We see from the graph the solid lines (contracts) trending up and catching up to same period last year.

Western Springs home sales remain steady year to year

Clients of our occasionally move back home to their Western Springs/ La Grange roots. We helped our clients buy this home in Western Springs in 2017. 

Several of our clients grew up in the suburb Western Springs, Illinois. Occasionally clients who bought their first Chicago condo with us will decide to head back to live closer to their parents (and "maybe" get a little childcare help). This year a South Loop faithful home owner is eyeing their suburban roots.

Western Spring Single Family Home Sales (Jan 1st to May 19th)
Western Springs has fared well during the current pandemic market. 64 single family homes have closed in Western Springs this year. The median price of a closed home is about $587,000. The highest priced sale is 5132 Woodland, Western Springs IL 60558 for $1,925,724. The top three sellers are new construction homes. The lowest priced sold home is 3911 Garden Avenue, Western Springs IL 60558 for $170,000. The home was marketed as complete gut renovation or tear down.

Over the same period of 2019 (Jan 1st to May 19th) 65 homes sold with a median price of about $615,000.  Unit sales were almost identical to last year (65 to 64). That's a surprising fact when many people in the market paused by mid March. May? June closings may be affected if less homes went under contract in April.

36 Western Springs homes are currently under contract with a median asking price of about $669,900. 55 homes are currently listed for sale with a median asking price of $690,000.

YESTERDAY, a quirky Wrigleyville mainstay, set to be demolished

The YESTERDAY building at 1143 West Addison is under contract and will be demolished. A building permit was issued... yesterday... for a new construction three-flat all too common in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Lakeview. I stopped over today with my two youngest sons for a few last photos.

Frame multi-unit rental buildings still hanging in there on each side of YESTERDAY. They probably get an offer everyday to sell for a larger development but now the contingent lots are broken up.

The property sits on a 25'x122' lot zoned RT4 and is under contract with an asking price of $599,900 according to the MLS (we won't know the final price until the closing is recorded). There are a good number of newer construction three-unit condo buildings lining West Addison. However, many frame and grey-stone multi-units remain along with vintage grey-stone and brick single family homes along this path to Wrigley Field. There is still some charm in Mudville.

You get a glimpse of newer construction three-flats to the left background of the photo.

The median price of a sold condo on the 1000-1600 blocks of West Addison is about $400K over the last 24 months while the highest priced condo sold for $912,000 over that period.

About four years ago my oldest son bought a pack of 1987 Topps baseball cards and tried the gum! It was not chewable. This may be my last favorite iconic dump in Wrigleyville to bite the dust.  First Yum Yum Donuts that use to be in front of Wrigley Field and now YESTERDAY.

East Lincoln Park grey-stone sells for $2,200,000, will be demolished

438 West St. James Place is scheduled for demolition (All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

Another East Lincoln Park vintage grey-stone will be torn down. 438 West St. James Place was purchased in 2019 for $2,200,000. A demolition permit was issued at the end of last month and I noticed the fences up yesterday. I do not see any building permits yet for the address. The 33'x146' lot size with RM-6 would allow for a large new construction home. I could also see a high-end four-flat developed here.

The home is adjacent to a large multi-unit to the west and the Mansueto mansion garage entrance to the east. 

The vintage grey-stone was fully renovated circa 2000. The desirable lot sits between the vintage multi-unit building to the west and the newer build Mansueto mansion to the east. Here's a post I did about that house and the area in 2015. The house was sold to Dio Realty LLC... I'm a bit surprised Mansueto did not buy the property (assuming Dio Realty is not associated but I could be wrong).

The Mansueto mansion takes up half the block.

The modern colossal sit among mostly vintage homes on St James Place.

400 block of West St. James Place neighbors

Lincoln Square / Bowmanville two-flat on 60' wide lot sells for $950,000, torn down for new condos

New construction condos at 2046 West Foster. Top floors have rooftop decks with very nice views of Winnemac Park. All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty.

A six unit condo building nears completion at 2046 West Foster in the Bowmanville neighborhood of Lincoln Square. The property has nice views overlooking Winnemac Park. The attractive vintage two-flat building that formerly sat on a 60' wide (better than double lot) had sold twice since 2017 and then was torn down.

2046 West Foster in Lincoln Square was sold twice in two years then developed. The original two-flat had was attractive and appeared higher-end in construction than the average brick two-flat. The wide double lot made it even more desirable.

2046 West Foster a 60'x 125' lot with existing two-flat was sold in 2017 (apparently before it went to open market ) for $725,000. $362,500 per 30' wide lot is a decent deal in Lincoln Square even for busy West Foster Ave. considering the potential for development (the original property was zoned RS3 single family of two-flat). Up-zoning to larger multi-unit on this stretch of Foster is usually common and approved.

The property was sold once again in 2019 for a hefty $950,000! Again it was sold prior to going to the greater market on the MLS.

The property overlooks Winnemac Park. Not the best photo of the park on a grey day. Soccer field in the foreground. The top floors will get really nice views of the changing colors throughout the year.

The six unit building nears completion. I have not been able to locate any advertising for the units for sale as of yet.

104 condos have closed to date this year in Lincoln Square (Jan 1st through April 10th). The median price of a closed condo is $312,000. 125 condo units sold over the same period of last year with a median price about $302,000. 

The top floor units will probably be listed in the low mid $600s. A top floor newer construction three bedrooms, two baths condo with rooftop deck just down West Foster similar to 2046 W Foster sold earlier this year for $615,000.

Lincoln Park Q1 2020 condo sales up 8%... then there's April

The Orchard condo homes in Lincoln Park are taking full shape as part of the Lincoln Common development. 32 units are advertised starting around $1.5 million. 

First Quarter Lincoln Park sales were looking good. 215 Lincoln Park condos (attached units, townhouses) closed in First Quarter of 2020. That's up 8.6% from First Quarter 2019 (198 closed).
April was the first full calendar month of sales since the Illinois stay-at-home order took effect.

April condo closings in Lincoln Park were down 28%. 111 condo units closed April 2020.  154 units closed April of 2019. For some perspective:

• April Lakeview condo closings were down 6%. 
• Near North April condo sales were down 40%.  
• Lincoln Square had 34 condo closings in both April 2019 and 2020. 
• North Center had the same amount of April closings with 42 units closed in both 2019 and 2020.

We've been busy in Lincoln Park over the First Quarter of 2020. Lately we have been doing showings for an out of state client that needs to move to Chicago.  We've conducted video walk-through tours (with my commentary) to the enjoyment of our buyers. A couple condos we showed near the end of April sold within the first couple weeks of listing on the market. Some folks are taking advantage of low mortgage interest rates and better values than they would have found in the beginning of the year.

April 2020 Near West Side / West Loop condo sales (unit sales down 40%)

Views from the West Loop (All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

The Near West Side Community Area rests just west of the Loop and is home to the very desirable West Loop neighborhood. We've helped buyers, sellers and renters for many years in West Loop and the surrounding burgs. We took a look at Near West Side over-all April condo sales numbers in light of the coronavirus outbreak.  It's the first full calendar month of sales since the shelter-in-place order.

Near West Condo Sales 2020
The affects of the coronavirus took hold in April 2020.  Near West units sales were way down from a typical April. 110 units closed in April 2019. Just 66 units closed in April 2020.  Unit sales were looking good in the First Quarter of the year (January through March). 214 units closed First Quarter in 2020 with a median price of $351,750. 201 units closed in First Quarter 2019 for Near North with a median price of $420,000.

January 2020, 45 condo units closed down 5 units from January 2019
February 2020, 53 units closed up 9 units from February 2019
March 2020, 85 units closed up 10 units from March 2019
April 2020, 66 units closed DOWN 44 units from April 2019.

My guess is we'll see unit sales down near 50% this year around Chicago.  Anecdotally speaking, several units I've showed clients over the past two weeks did go under contract without a price reduction.

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