In Many Major U.S. Cities – Downtown Home Prices Stable While Suburbs Prices Fall!
In Many Major U.S. Cities – Downtown Home Prices Stable While Suburbs Prices Fall!
PATTERN OF CHICAGO DOWNTOWN PRICE STABILITY REPEATED ACROSS THE COUNTRY!
The Chicago Real Estate Market circa 2008 has shown some pockets of hope amid much gloom. Typically homes and condos Dean’s Team market and those listed by other Downtown Chicago Real Estate Brokers sell well and at good prices with attractive market time – if they are located in or very near Downtown Chicago and The Chicago Loop.
Our most recent sales success involved a small one bedroom in the Metropolitan Place Complex 130 S. Canal Street. This attractive but not fully updated unit sold virtually at asking price in 35 days with multiple offers. In fact we are still receiving inquiry calls for the property even though it has been under contract to sell for over 5 weeks!
Several of our listings in the West Loop South Loop and River North near Downtown are drawing strong interest although not yet sold.
The further a condo or home is from the Loop however the more sluggish typically the buyer interest. Listings we’ve had in Albany Park Lincoln Square Portage Park and in several attractive Chicago Suburbs have been tough to sell with extended market times and lower eventual sales prices. Inventory levels or properties for sale are high as well although interest has increased over the last few weeks as the weather has warmed here.
For price trends on the North and Northwest Sides of Chicago review our Chicago IL Stats Pack Archive.
Real Estate Practitioners in other U.S. Metro Areas seem to be experiencing the same pattern.
The San Francisco Metro Area saw prices fall 17% within the last year and 8% during the first two months of 2008. In the city however prices were actually up 0.3% year-to-year. San Francisco Real Estate Agent Caroline Werboff sees very strong appreciation in the city’s prestigious Pacific Heights Russian Hill North Beach Telegraph Hill and Financial Districts.
Top San Francisco homes sell in excess of $6 Million up strongly over the last two years. Peripheral neighborhoods such as Sunset Hunter’s Point Bayview and Portola are showing some price decline however.
Suburban San Francisco including many communities in high-end Marin and San Mateo Counties have seen price declines of around 4%. East Bay Communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties show price declines exceeding 18%. Santa Clara County and the Silicon Valley have experienced 9% price declines year over year while Napa County and its Wine Country north of San Francisco have had price declines nearing 20% on average.
The Metro Area of New York City – including suburban communities in New York New Jersey and Connecticut have experienced price declines in the neighborhood of 8% in the past year. Prices in The Bronx Brooklyn and Queens have dipped between 3 and 14%.
At the same time neighborhoods in Manhattan including SoHo Greenwich Village Chelsea Murray Hill and The Upper West Side have all seen price increases and periodic multiple offers according to Toni Harper at Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Boston’s Metro Area offers a mixed bag. Prices in the well-known neighborhoods of Back Bay Fenway and The South End are up between 3 and 10% over the past year while Beacon Hill and The North End are down as much as one-third. During the peak market of 2006 many of the most prestigious properties here were run up to over $1.5 Million and fewer of these high-end properties are on the market today.
Boston City Neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury are up roughly 7 to 9 percent while Dorchester is down nearly 25%. Brookline MA has seen price declines of about 8% within the past year.
Los Angeles differs from the other metro areas studied by it’s lack of a specific urban center. Indeed much of the area is a huge sprawl of suburban communities.
In the Los Angeles Market Palm Springs has lost an estimated 24% of value within the past year. High-end communities in Orange County south of the city are down as well. More modestly priced areas such as Chino Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario are down between 15 and 24% within the last year.
LA shows a couple of areas of real estate strength – affluent communities on the West Side – Brentwood Santa Monica Hollywood and Westwood "tend to be better insulated because this is where people with money want to be" according to Madison Offenhauser of Keller Williams in Los Angeles.
See Jeff D. Opdyke’s article in the May 20th edition of The Wall Street Journal for more info.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO
