Groundbreaking on new U.S. home construction fell more than expected in December to its lowest in over a year, suggesting the battered housing sector remains a major roadblock to economic recovery. Get the full story »
Filed under: Housing
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Nate Berkus lists Gold Coast condo for $2.65M
Nate Berkus shows off his Chicago condo in a video on People.com. (People)
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago interior designer Nate Berkus, who rose to national fame through his frequent appearances on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and who now hosts his own eponymous and Winfrey-backed, New York-based talk show, on Tuesday placed his seven-room, full-floor Gold Coast condo on the market for $2.65 million.
Berkus, 39, has owned the 3,980-square-foot condo unit since 2003, when he bought it for $500,000. The condo is located in a small, 12-unit building that was constructed in 1928 and that “feels like a co-op building, with some of the vintage features,” said Berkus’ listing agent, Katherine Chez of Coldwell Banker. Get the full story »
Home-builder sentiment stalled at low level
U.S. home-builder sentiment in January was flat at a low level for the third month in a row as the housing market struggled to recover from its collapse, a survey released Tuesday showed.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index held steady at 16 from last month. Get the full story »
Blackhawks’ Bickell buys Hamlin Park town home
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell has paid $510,000 for a newly built, seven-room town home in Hamlin Park.
Bickell, 24, becomes the fifth current Blackhawk to own a home in a one-square-mile North Side area that encompasses parts of the Hamlin Park, West Lakeview and Roscoe Village neighborhoods, joining teammates Brent Seabrook, Troy Brouwer, Duncan Keith and Dave Bolland. Get the full story »
Transcripts show Fed saw housing bubble risks in ‘05
Federal Reserve officials worried in 2005 about the risks a housing bubble could pose to the U.S. economy but ended the year hopeful a steady round of interest-rate increases would keep the problem in check, transcripts released Friday showed.
The documents suggest the Fed, in hindsight, may have been too complacent about an overheated housing market that helped spark the worst U.S. financial crisis and deepest recession since the 1930s. Get the full story »
30-year mortgage rates dip to 4.71%
Rates on fixed mortgages dipped for the second straight week as Treasury yields fell. Freddie Mac says the average rate on the 30-year mortgage dropped to 4.71 percent this week from 4.77 percent the previous week. It hit a 40-year low of 4.17 percent in November. Get the full story »
Jan. 12 at 1:49 p.m.
Comments Off
Filed under: Economy, Government, Housing, Jobs/employment, Manufacturing, Real estate, Retail Beige Book shows economy still growing modestly
Economic growth continued to expand moderately the last few weeks, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
In its latest snapshot of regional economic conditions, the Fed reported that manufacturing, retail and non-financial services sectors were strong in most regions. Get the full story »
Builders’ show hears optimistic housing forecast
Housing experts say U.S. home sales and construction should rise sharply this year, but the increases hinge on the economy adding more jobs.
Two economists delivered their forecast Wednesday at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla. Get the full story »
R. Kelly’s former Lakeview mansion gets price cut
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | The 11-room Lakeview mansion that Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly once owned underwent a significant price cut on Monday, from $3.89
million to $3.5 million. Get the full story »
Bill Rancic sells Park Tower condo for $1.425M
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Reality TV star Bill Rancic, the Chicago entrepreneur, motivational speaker and real-estate developer who won the first season of Donald Trump’s
reality show “The Apprentice,” has sold a five-room condo unit in the Park Tower building on North Michigan Avenue for $1.425 million, less than 20 months after he paid $1.185 million for it. Get the full story »
Stop smoking or move, says Habitat Co.
A view of Kingsbury Plaza, located at Grand and State, in 2008. (Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)
Tenants at Kingsbury Plaza, an apartment building in River North, had a New Year’s resolution made for them by the management firm The Habitat Co. this year: Quit smoking.
The alternative: Move.
Kingsbury notified residents late last year that as of Jan. 1, it would begin a year-long transition to becoming a smoke-free building, meaning that smokers have 2011 to either kick the habit or find someplace else to live. Get the full story »
Ch. 5 anchor closes sale on West Loop condo
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | WMAQ-Ch. 5 news anchor Marion Brooks on Monday closed on the sale of her seven-room West Loop condo for $450,000.
The recently divorced Brooks, 44, told Elite Street in Septemeber that she had listed the 30th-floor condo because of a desire to live closer to her NBC Tower office in Streeterville. At that time, the three-bedroom condo in the SkyBridge high-rise was available for $429,000. Get the full story »
Mortgage rates highest since May
The era of near 4 percent mortgage rates has ended after a quick rate rise since early November. But some industry experts think that may be a good thing for the flagging housing market.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen to 4.86 percent from 4.17%, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey. In the Bankrate.com weekly survey, the rate has risen to 5.02 percent — crossing the 5 percent mark for the second time in three weeks — after being as low as 4.42 percent as recently as early November.
Rates haven’t been this high since May and forecasters now predict them to remain between 5 percent and 6 percent for all of 2011. Get the full story »
Couple denies charges in Willborn race-bias case
The home that the Willborns wanted to buy at 3300 S. Normal Ave. in Bridgeport. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Bridgeport couple accused of violating fair housing laws in the failed sale of their million-dollar home are refuting Justice Department charges that they refused to sell it to an African-American family.
In separate responses filed this month with U.S. District Court in Chicago, Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia deny that they engaged in discriminatory housing practices in their dealings with George and Peytyn Willborn, who made several offers to purchase the Sabbia’s sprawling Bridgeport home.
The Sabbias also deny that Daniel Sabbia told listing agent Jeffrey Lowe that Sabbia would prefer not to sell the home to an African-American but that he didn’t care who bought it if the price was right, and deny that Lowe forwarded a sales contract to the Sabbias for signature. Get the full story »
Condo of ex-Blackhawk Ruutu back on market
By Bob Goldsborough | Elite Street | Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Tuomo Ruutu, now with the Carolina Hurricanes, has just placed his two-bedroom condominium unit in Lincoln Park back on the market for $499,000.
The Finland-born Ruutu, 27, played with the Blackhawks from 2003 until 2008, when he was traded to Carolina for Andrew Ladd. Get the full story »
