Trump Tower at 401 N. Wabash once had hundreds of units on the market….but now they’re close to sell out with roughly 18 units left in their inventory. According to Crain’s Chicago Business 159 new construction condos sold in the 3rd quarter in 2013 which is up from the 2nd quarter and up slightly from the 3rd quarter of 2012. But why haven’t more new construction condos sold? After all the real estate market has been on fire all year! The answer is in the inventory numbers; there is simply very little new construction to choose from! As a matter of fact we are the lowest levels of new construction inventory since 1997. This is a big change from 5 years ago.

235 W. Van Buren led the way with sales in the third quarter according to Crain’s with 41 units sold. I’m not sure how many units are left in this building but I hope they’ve put a nice dent in their inventory. In total the building has 714 units most comprised of 1 and 2 bedrooms.

1201 S. Prairie Museum Park Related Midwest has been selling at two towers in Museum Park and have been doing extremely well. Between the two buildings they sold 64 units this past quarter. 1201 S. Prairie is their highest end (flagship) building in the development. Related, at least in my own humble opinion, has done a phenomenal job at revamping not only sales but the units themselves. Of course their absolute impeccable timing of this project didn’t hurt!

401 N. Wabash – Trump Tower As I said Trump Tower only has 18 units left to sell according to Appraisal Research…I’ll see if I can verify these numbers and post an update. Inventory in Trump, even in the resale market, has decreased dramatically. Those who purchased in this building in 2010 and 2011 already have equity in their units. It’s a beautiful thing!

2550 Lincoln Park Tower Chicago’s newest luxury building has been doing exceptionally well. They closed 30 sales in the third quarter and did so with an average square foot price of $840 per foot! The developer brought on Terri Proctor to head up sales at this development and she has and continues to do an excellent job.

225 N. Columbus – The Aqua Well there is not much to say here except it is sold out!

What’s Next? Since new construction inventory is so low why don’t they just building more?!

New units are currently on the way! Financing is still difficult for larger buildings and even though the condo market has seen a resurgence, selling out a 400 unit building would still be a very very difficult task.

CMK Development, the same developers who built 235 W. Van Buren are planning a building at 1345 S. Wabash which will contain 144 units. Soon we will also see plans announced for a luxury condo building in the gold coast (small and boutique) and another developer is trying to building 60 units in the West Loop.

Paul Blackburn is an Illinois Licensed Realtor & Broker with @ Properties in Chicago. He can always be reached via e-mail at Paul@PKBlackburn.com