Trio Trouble: Three-bedroom condos a tough sell downtown

Late-summer study by Appraisal Research Counselors says the three-bedroom condo has been the hardest hit

Which size condo has been hardest hit in the downtown real-estate tailspin? “It is very evident that the three-bedroom units lag the market in terms of sales and generally sell at the tail end of the marketing program,” reports a late-summer study prepared by Ron DeVries and Gail Lissner, both vice presidents at Appraisal Research Counselors. Traditionally, empty nesters—who often have lots of furniture and a desire for a bedroom, an office, and a guest room—are one of the largest groups to buy three-bedroom condos. But that same group “generally must sell an existing residence in order to make a new purchase,” says the report. Thus, because of a problematical housing market and losses in the stock market, the people most likely to buy those three-bedroom units have—for the time being, at least—a diminished “ability or desire to make an expensive purchase.”

This article appears in the November 2009 issue of Chicago Magazine.

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