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| Bird Sculpture looking toward (Montrose Harbor) |
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| Purple Martin houses |
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| Montrose Harbor |
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| Ranch Triangle has a collection of vintage and newer homes among several charming short angled blocks. All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty |
I visited a client's home in Ranch Triangle on Friday. They may decide to sell their duplex condo. Ranch Triangle is a desirable Lincoln Park neighborhood located near the popular North and Clybourn retail stretch. Many of the homes are hidden away on angled and short blocks despite being in the middle of Lincoln Park hustle and bustle. It has a "tight knit" community feel where neighbors often know each other. Let's take a look at recent sales.
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| Ranch Triangle in Lincoln Park is roughly West North Avenue, North Halsted, West Armitage and the river to the west. Image from Google.com |
Ranch Triangle Single Family Home Sales
16 single family homes sold from January 1st through September 24th with a median price of $1.4 million. 1919 N Dayton, Chicago, IL 60614 is the highest priced closing at $4.275 million. The lowest priced sold home is a rare foreclosure sale at 1840 N Bissell for $401,000. 16 home sales over the period was the most unit sales (by one) in the past five years.
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| Popular town homes along North Maud |
Despite this year's economic and social challenges Ranch Triangle and Lincoln Park markets have have remained resilient. The location offers some of the best in amenities and housing variety Chicago has to offer.
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| Openlands plants a parkway tree on the 2400 block of West Winona. The last tree had been removed well over ten years ago. |
Take the first step in organizing your tree planting day by visiting Openlands.
Looking for a downtown condo?
Crain's Chicago Business reported at the end of August a 15 month supply of condos in the Lakeshore East area of #downtown and over 11 month supply of condos in popular #Streeterville. Meanwhile many North Side neighborhoods outside of downtown have less than a 3 month supply. A healthy balanced market is considered 4 to 5 month supply.
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| All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty |
Despite all the conversion activity to single family homes and tear downs small multi-units still remain an important housing stock in our communities. We'll be bringing a Lincoln Square three-flat to market this fall. Let's take a look at recent sales.
Lincoln Square Multi-Unit Sales (2-4 unit buildings)
From January 1st to September 9th 24 multi-unit buildings have closed in Lincoln Square Community Area. The median price of a closed multi-unit is about $630,000.
-16 of the closings were 2-flats with a median closing price of $585,000
-6 were 3-flats with a median closed price of $710,000
-2 were 4-flats that sold for $582,000 and $630,000 (even with more units the buildings or locations were not as desirable thus the relatively lower median price).
Over-all multi-unit sales are down by 13 units year to year. In 2019, 37 units closed over the same period with a median price of $670,000. The pandemic most certainly affected multi-units particularly as it was more difficult to gain access and show properties with tenants. Coronavirus risks in the spring made many apprehensive to buy, list and allow showings in a property.
Typical Lincoln Square multi-units
Lincoln Square, North Center and Uptown Multi-unit Sales
In the three popular North Side neighboring markets of Lincoln Square, North Center and Uptown 78 multi-units sold from January 1st to September 9th, 2020. The median price of a sold building for these three areas is $630,000. Sales are down 32 units in these combine neighborhoods. In 2019, 110 multi-units sold with a median price of $652,000.
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| Unit sales rebounded nationally and in Chicago to either equal levels or up over 2019. (All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty) |
In February of this year some clients and real estate experts were sounding the alarm about the coronavirus. I was having conversations about potential impact when selling in the spring market. "If I buy a house will I be able to sell my existing condo?". Then we went full pandemic in March with shelter in place orders. Something most of us never saw coming or even fathomed. Yet, clients and brokers still had to make decisions. Some bought and sold, some sat out. Here's how some of the sales numbers have panned out.
The National Association of Realtors reports sales numbers have been resilient despite the pandemic and civil unrest. NAR's Chief Economist suggests "homes sales will be down only 2% - 4% at years end". Some year over year stats:
-National home sales are currently up about 10% year to year
-Inventory is down about 20%
-Current mortgage applications are up 27% year to year suggesting we may be stable the rest of the year.
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| June and July were very active for our personal business. Chicago prices held strong through the worst pandemic months and July sales matched 2019. |
Meanwhile in the Chicago metro area unit "sales in the nine-county metropolitan area were up 12 percent in July from the same month a year ago" according to Crain's Chicago Business analysis of sales numbers by The Illinois Association of Realtors.
In Chicago, "2,725 homes sold in July, up 0.6 percent from July 2019, or essentially flat. The previous three months’ sales declines were sharper than in the metro area: 20.8 percent in April, 42.6 percent in May and 27.6 percent in June." Ouch. However, Chicago sales median price is up about 7.5% over July 2019.
It appears the Chicago suburbs did see a spike of activity from those seeking more space for their new "work-at-home, school-at-home" life.
