Monday, December 3, 2012

Industry Experts Predict Residential Real Estate Trends for 2013



Lexington Homes Woodleaf
at The Sanctuary Club, Kildeer, IL
 CHICAGO, IL – With many experts proclaiming the real estate market has finally bottomed out, the industry is still holding its collective breath as it looks toward 2013 with great hope and anticipation.

Chicago-area real estate experts, below, give an overview of their top real estate trends for 2013.

 The Year We’ve Been Waiting For:

According to the Commerce Department, U.S. builders started construction in October 2012 on the most homes and apartments since July 2008, evidence that the housing recovery is gaining momentum and making consistent gains. 

Jeff Benach
“Like other builders, we're seeing a few things that have allowed us some cautious optimism going forward,” said Jeff Benach, co-principal of Lexington Homes.

“Due to signs of improvement in the market, we've been able to back off on incentives and discounting at most communities. Also, buyers are not expecting as many promotions or deals as in the past few years. We opened four communities in 2012 and hope to open two or three more in 2013. We’re ready to be running on all cylinders again.”

Brian Brunhofer
Brian Brunhofer, president of Meritus Homes, which opened two new-home communities in 2012 and plans to open two more in 2013, reports a similar uptick. “Traffic levels at our communities continue to increase. There’s a sense that buyers want to get on with their lives, and they are ready to purchase.”

Comeback of the Custom Home:

Custom home activity basically fell off the radar over the past few years, but with renewed confidence in the economy and increased demand for high-end housing, semi-custom and custom-home construction has been seeing signs of life.

Case in point, Lexington Homes launched a new custom-home division called Portfolio Homes in October and opened its first custom-home community, Woodleaf at The Sanctuary Club in Kildeer, Ill.

 “There’s been a resurgence in custom home sales in 2012, due to great values in the luxury market,” said Benach. “Record low interest rates and pent-up demand will continue to fuel luxury real estate sales in 2013.”

 For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:      

Kim Manning,
312-267-4527

Mark Thomton,
312-267-4523

No comments:

Post a Comment