AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

The Chicago real estate market is starting to show signs of recovery after a long period of decline as a result of the nationwide economic crisis. In some ways, the recession simply greased the wheels of an already-impending decline in Chicago real estate. Home prices had already started to decline along with home sales and other key indicators of the market well before the downturn began in earnest during the year two thousand eight. There are, however, continued signs of stress in the housing market, which seem to reflect continued difficulties on both the individual and aggregate levels of the Windy City economy. According to a September 9, 2009 article in the Chicago Journal, “In fact, experts say, foreclosures are increasing nationwide and there’s an eight-month backlog of new homes waiting to be sold, neither of which suggest an imminent end to the pain of the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression.”

According to an article in USA Today entitled “Foreclosures force condos into creative action”, Condo associations, developers, and lenders across the nation are trying innovative tactics to save themselves from financial disaster amid the foreclosure crisis. The growing number of foreclosures deprive associations of the assessments they need to cover insurance, maintenance and other costs and can undermine property values. The association at Shoreline Towers, a 378 unit Chicago condominium, plans to use reserve funds to buy foreclosed units, rent them, then resell them when the market improves.” A September 17, 2009 article in PNN Online, also noted the continued stresses on real estate in Chicago, noting that “Over half of Chicago’s 1.3 million renters are paying more than a third of their income for housing and facing other stresses, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.”

Fortunately, according to a September 10, 2009 article in the Chicago Sun-Times, “Foreclosure filings in Cook County dropped 9.5 percent in August from a year ago and plummeted 32 percent from July, according to a report from RealtyTrac released Wednesday.” Although this does not mean that the housing crisis is over for the city, it does show light at the end of the tunnel for beleaguered Chicago homes for sale.