The Legacy at Millennium Park has been announced by the Chicago District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) as a 2012 Vision Awards finalist. The luxury high-rise development has been recognized for innovation, best practices and contributing to the

It’s no mystery to Illinois agents that all salesperson and broker licenses will expire on April 30, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is taking measures to assist agents in the

An acquisition that would merge the two largest commercial MLS services in the nation has come under fire from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its anti-competitiveness. The merger, in which CoStar would purchase LoopNet, is an $860 million

Remarks made by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan have confirmed the Obama White House has no immediate plans to reform the country’s GSEs “anytime soon.” Though HousingWire, which reported on Donovan’s statement, highlighted the political nature of the policy –

The uptick in construction activity has been one of the major housing topics thus far in 2012, and new stats on orders for the first quarter are continuing that trend. According to the latest data, which was reported by

The National Association of Realtors and the United States Department of Treasury came together to put on an event on April 23 that offered aid to homeowners who are struggling to keep their homes and avoid foreclosure and to

Quarterly foreclosure activity increased in 2012’s first quarter for 114 of the 212 metropolitan areas followed by RealtyTrac, according to a new study by the research firm. The study, however, was not entirely negative. Though foreclosures did increase in

Month after month, data comes out affirming the rising demand for rental units, and like the wider world of real estate, fresh and unusual details often accompanies it. A recent Wall Street Journal piece on the rent/homeownership dichotomy has presented

The Pending Home Sales Index, a leading measure of future home sales activity from NAR, increased in March, contributing further to the new housing recovery. The index, which is based on contract signings, increased from 97.4 in February to

The new home sales data from earlier today confirms what we’ve been reporting for several weeks now – that a housing recovery is indeed in the works. There remains considerable debate, though, on the nature and extent of that recovery,

The 2010 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit was one of the Obama administration’s first big policies for housing, but its impact has been debated since its expiration. And now Dean Baker, a noted economist and researcher, has published a detailed

Home prices in the Chicagoland area have fallen drastically over the last few years, but somehow Oak Park and River Forest have managed to keep prices up, falling only .27 percent while neighboring suburbs have fallen almost 30 percent.

The latest data on new home sales from the Census Bureau shows that though the market for new housing remains depressed, it is clearly moving toward greener pastures. For March 2012, new single-family home sales were at a seasonally

New analysis of HARP 2.0 is suggesting bold improvements for bank margins and other lending measurements in the second quarter of 2011. Conducted by the firm Keefe, Bruyete & Woods (KBW) and covered by HousingWire, the analysis looked at

Buyers have been on the hunt for once-in-a-lifetime deals in recent months, but an ad hoc index from The Washington Post suggests that strategy may no longer fly. Dubbing its approach the “low-ball index,” the Post looked at the number

February prices in the Chicago real estate market fell 2.5 percent from January and 6.9 percent from February 2011, according to the latest Case-Shiller. Nationally, the two major price indices of the Case-Shiller, the 10- and 20-City Composites, showed