Real Estate - Residential stories from Crain's Chicago Business
News and Features regarding Real Estate - Residential from Crain's Chicago Business
Condo sales fall to a 7-year low
The downtown condominium market took another turn for the worse in the third quarter, as developers sold the fewest condos in a three-month period since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Buyers signed contracts for only 160 condos and townhouses in the quarter, down 82% from the ...
Real estate slump shelves suburban spruce-up
Lake Zurich officials hailed the May 2006 groundbreaking of a 39-unit townhouse project as a key first step in a $200-million plan to redevelop the northwest suburb's downtown.
Now, with the once-booming housing market gone bust, what's left behind is a half-finished complex and a developer ...
Credit freeze chills Chicago
The choking credit market is causing pain in just about every nook of Chicago's economy, squeezing businesses and consumers alike.
From manufacturers to car dealers to big publicly traded firms, companies that rely on borrowed money to buy inventory, expand facilities and strike deals are having ...
Assessor yanks tax break for Loyola, Franciscan residential project
(Crain?s) ? Cook County Assessor James Houlihan is moving to take a lucrative tax break from Loyola University Chicago and the Franciscan Sisters religious order.
In an unusual step likely to draw strong protests from the two prominent Roman Catholic institutions, Mr. Houlihan late last ...
Fannie-Freddie takeover sparks global stock rally
(AP) ? Uncle Sam has just become the 800 pound gorilla in the U.S. mortgage market.
The Bush administration announced Sunday it was seizing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a bid to help reverse a prolonged housing and credit crisis.
But private analysts worried that ...
Stocks fall on inflation data, financial worries
(AP) ? Wall Street fell sharply for a second straight session Tuesday after a hefty jump in wholesale inflation and a drop in new home construction gave investors more reason to believe an economic recovery is far off.
The Dow closed at 11,348.55, down 130.84 points or 1.1%.
The three ...
Condo chasm hits new low
Sales of new homes downtown are grinding to a halt, casting doubts over when the market for trendy condominiums and townhouses will begin to recover.
New-home sales plummeted 73% to a record-low 685 units during the first six months of this year, compared with 2,443 units in the first half of ...
South Siders raise Olympics concerns
(Crain?s) ? Even as Mayor Richard M. Daley pushes Chicago?s Olympic hopes in Beijing, the first signs of potential serious domestic woes for the city?s Olympics ambitions emerged back home in Chicago on Thursday.
A group of about 100 South Side civic activists and community leaders ...
Condo buyers flip off Trump
Investors no longer have to pay Trump prices for a piece of Donald Trump's downtown condominium and hotel tower.
At least 34 hotel suites sold by the developer in the past six months are back on the market, some priced at a steep discount to comparable unsold hotel units in the ...
Chicago, state see Q2 foreclosure filings jump
(AP) ? The number of households facing the foreclosure process more than doubled in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to data released Friday.
Nationwide, 739,714 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice during the quarter, or one in every 171 U.S. households, ...
Fortune Brands' fortunes slump in 2Q
(AP) ? Fortune Brands Inc., which sells wine and spirits as well as home and hardware products and golf equipment, said Friday its second-quarter profit fell 41 percent amid a weak U.S. economic environment and higher commodity costs.
The company also said it anticipates a decline in ...
FDIC chair urges calm; most Chicago banks in good shape
(Crain?s) ? Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has some advice for consumers worried about the health of their banks: Calm down.
The FDIC, which insures deposits up to $100,000 at banks around the country, over the weekend took control of California-based IndyMac ...
New fair-housing group debuts with hearing in Chicago
(Crain's) ? In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, a new bipartisan commission held a hearing Tuesday in Chicago on illegal housing discrimination.
The panel, called the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, is co-chaired by Jack Kemp and Henry ...
AG Madigan to sue Countrywide for fraud
(Crain?s) ? Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is suing Countrywide Financial Corp., claiming that the company knowingly put borrowers in mortgages they couldn?t afford leading to thousands of residents losing their homes.
The suit, filed Wednesday morning in Cook County Circuit Court, ...
Recovery still 2 years away for USG: Foote
(Crain?s) ? A recovery for drywall manufacturer USG Corp. is at least two years away, even as drywall prices show signs of firming, USG CEO William Foote said Wednesday.
With new housing construction still mired in a severe slump and the U.S. economy teetering on a recession, Mr. Foote ...
