Could Chicago tower pop the real estate market?

The supply-side expansion:

Chicago, along with the rest of the country, has been condo crazy the past few years. The Windy City will add 7,499 newly built units this year, down 33 percent from 2004 but still among the top three nationwide, according to Property & Portfolio Research Inc. and Reed Construction Data. Only Miami and San Diego are building more. Donald Trump, for one, has a big condo project under way on the banks of the Chicago River. Meanwhile, nationally, median condo prices hit a high in June at $223,500, up 15 percent from the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.

With for-sale signs plastered on new condo buildings everywhere, Chicago real estate experts say the high end of the market may be cracking. "I would be quite hesitant to put up more residential units in Chicago," says Louis G. Conforti, head of Chicago-based real estate investment company Greenwood Group LLC. "We've had a shipload of project come online in the last three years," he says. "The market is slowing."

Post-Gazette