Chicago
“The market has solidified,” says Stephen Baird, president and CEO of Baird & Warner, noting a slight uptick in the number of properties sold. According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, July sales were up 4 percent over June and slightly above July 2008. Activity is concentrated in the lower price brackets. As in many other regions, the upper-end here is constrained by difficulties with the jumbo mortgage market and consumer confidence in general.
Still, transactions are happening for cash buyers. “People (who are not constrained by financing) are moving in the market. Anyone who can buy now is at a great advantage because they can get some pretty good deals,” says Baird. “I think we are going to stop seeing prices going down and activity slowly coming back,” he says of the fall market.
[...] Chicago [...]
[...] Chicago [...]