IAR presents their economic forecast for 2007

"All real estate is local. Illinois is a solid state and there should be nothing to worry about," Yun said. He added that new home sales are beginning to pop up with home builders cutting back on construction in order to boost sales of current inventory. He reported a net gain of 50,000 in new jobs in last year for the Chicago metro region and expects a similar such gain this year with overall economic growth increasing at a respectable pace and with consumer spending remaining very healthy. He noted only modest declines in activity in Illinois as compared to other states who are witnessing sharp decreases including Virginia, Nevada, California, Florida and Arizona.
LINK

Movin' On Up!

Mark and Michelle Jahnke were so pleased with their town house at Hampton Glen in Plainfield that when they decided to move up to their first single-family home, they selected the same builder.

The couple wanted to remain in the southwest suburbs, and they found exactly what they were looking for -- at Sable Ridge, a master planned clubhouse development in Joliet.

"We purchased a quick-delivery home, but were still able to choose our options and finishes. So it worked out perfectly for us, because our town home sold very quickly," Michelle said.

LINK to story..

Basically a glorified advertisement for the homebuilders disguised as a news story.

Welcome to the Windy City Housing Bubble Blog!

I'll be posting relevant content to the Chicago housing market, it seems that the midwest is behind in just about everything, including the realization that we too are affected by the national housing bubble. There are many sites that look in great detail about the most obvious bubble markets such as Florida, Phoenix, SoCal, etc. I'd like to give a perspective on the Chicagoland market that is often left out of the discussion in favor of the sensationalism of the "big" bubble cities.
Even though we did not see price appreciations of the magnitude of San Diego or Phoenix, things are still out of whack in many of the desirable neighborhoods in the city, as well as certain suburbs.
Stay tuned!