Chicago Real Estate | Why Chicago's Housing Prices will Hit Bottom

Purchasing property now in Chicago is a gamble. You have got to have all the right cards. These include credit, capital, and long term security. Sure, these may sound obvious, but in today's market, home sellers and the banks issuing loans are looking closely at potential investors. Real Estate is still a commodity. People are just taking a higher level of morality and opportunism to it. If you are in the market to buy, be sure to work with a trusted real estate professional. Then, if all the cards are right, you can bet on a big win.

U.S. commercial real estate prices fell 10.5 percent in the first quarter and 12.2 percent in 2008, according to British real estate data and analysis provider IPD's first analysis of the U.S. market.

Including monthly income, which rose 5.4 percent in 2008, the overall total return for U.S. commercial real estate was down 7.4 percent, according to the report released on Wednesday.

Including monthly income, which rose 1.4 percent, the total return for U.S. commercial real estate fell 9.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Office property turned in the worst performance for the year with a total return down 8.2 percent and values falling 12.8 percent in 2008. Apartment values slid 12.2 percent, industrial property sank 11.7 percent and retail real estate was down 11.4 percent in 2008.

In 2008, U.S. western states posted the largest decline with values falling 13 percent, followed by a 12.3 percent decline in the East, 11.1 percent in the South and 11 percent in the Midwest.

"A clear feature of these U.S. results is the apparent synchronization in the downside performance," Simon Fairchild, IPD's U.S. managing director. said in a statement. "What ever manner in which we analyze the data -- either across regions or sectors -- market values have been written down at broadly the same rate."

The Annual Index was derived from IPD's core U.S. Portfolio Analysis Services, which started in 2005 and measure the relative performance of individual funds against peer group benchmarks. The index is based on U.S. commercial real estate portfolios worth $121 billion and is expanding substantially in coming years.

So there you have it, Chicago's housing market is ready to move. Whether you are an investor who is ready to purchase depends largely on credit, security and capital.


MIchael Russell writes about a variety of subjects. This article discusses Chicago real estate. For more information, visit the Real Estate Book.