Crain’s Chicago Real Estate Daily has the numbers from Appraisal Research Counselors on the downtown condo market and leads with this summary:
Downtown condominium developers face the same old problem — too many condos, not enough buyers — but the booming apartment market ironically is providing some relief.
Developers of downtown projects reported just 174 sales in the first quarter, down from 256 a year earlier, according to a report from Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago-based consulting firm. Still, that’s an improvement over the fourth quarter, when developers reported a net loss of 19 sales, as more buyers walked away from condo purchase contracts than signed them.
Downtown developers have few reasons to be optimistic that 2011 will be much better than 2010, the fifth straight year of falling sales and third with sales below 600 units. The demand picture remains ugly, with mortgages still hard to obtain and many would-be buyers betting they can get a better deal if they wait.