2007 @properties Market Report for Chicago available now

From the @properties website:

We are pleased to present the 2007 @properties Market Report, the only real estate report that takes Chicago homebuyers and sellers inside the numbers to offer real insights into local market activity.

(Here's the link)

The Report analyzes data for detached (single-family) and attached (condominium and townhome) sales from 21 Chicago neighborhoods, comparing changes in the average selling price and market time of closed transactions. Those numbers tell part of the story. But in order to provide a more complete understanding of the local market, our analysis goes deeper, taking into account transaction volume, construction activity, economic factors, non-residential development, micro-market trends and more.

One of the most important concepts this report confirms is the local nature of real estate, which goes far beyond what's happening region by region or city by city. In Chicago, local means neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block.

Case in point: the average sales price for detached homes within the 21 neighborhoods surveyed increased 4.4 percent from 2006 to 2007; the average sales price for attached homes went up 4.3 percent. However, individually, not a single one of those 21 neighborhoods showed average price appreciation in the 4- to 5-percent range, proving that any kind of generalization about the Chicago real estate market as a whole is of marginal value to the individual buyer or seller. What matters most is what's happening in your area, and why.

The Market Report sheds light on those questions and others, including:

• Why does Lincoln Square remain one of the North Side's hottest single-family markets despite a 4 percent drop in the average sales price?
• How did Near West single-family sales prices jump almost 80 percent in one year?
• Why shouldn't Humboldt Park condo owners be concerned with a 14-percent decline in average sales price?
• What surprising reasons are behind an 8.5-percent increase in average condo sales prices in Kenwood?
• What's disappearing from Lincoln Park's single-family home market?

The 2007 @properties Market Report is a great top-line resource for understanding the trends that affect your local real estate market. For a more in-depth analysis and thorough property evaluation, turn to your local @properties sales agent. No one knows the market better.

Sincerely,

Michael Golden & Thaddeus Wong,

Co-founders, @properties