Who will buy the Condos?

Alan Lev, Belgravia Group's President/ COO offers insight

By Dennis Rodkin, May 2008 (excerpt)

...Is there a condo apocalypse looming? Most likely, no. Huecksteadt and other analysts think the new condos will be bought up—but slowly. "This will work itself out," says Huecksteadt (who is not in the business of selling real estate, so he can't be accused of wishful thinking)...

The fundamentals are still in place, Huecksteadt and others say. The categories of buyers who fueled the boom a few years ago—empty nesters, urban-minded singles, affluent Midwesterners who want a Chicago roost—are still interested in buying. Chicago and its suburbs remain strong job markets and cultural centers. For the most part, the new condos are good properties appealingly priced. Condo living may even be growing more attractive. Steven Hovany of Strategy Planning Associates, a consultant to developers, points out that the latest generation of adults are "more downtown-prone than other generations; they're not going to run to the suburbs to buy their first home." And the number of nonwhite buyers, many of whom come from cultures where multifamily housing is more typical, is growing fast. Then there are the baby boomers, who are just entering retirement age. "They've just started buying the second homes," says Alan Lev, the president of the development firm Belgravia Group and president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.

"There's nothing that has changed about the buyers," says Gail Lissner, a vice president of Appraisal Research. (truncated)