An Unprecedented Wave of Eight-Figure Listings – i.e. $10 Million and Up – Have Hit the Chicagoland Real Estate Market. High-End Brokers Explain Why.

Leigh Marcus Team September 18, 2024

This past summer, in the span of just a few weeks, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate listed five North Shore estates ranging from $10.7 million to $35 million, plus another three downtown condominiums priced from $10.8 million to $11.7 million. Those homes joined about a half-dozen other homes for sale in the Chicago area priced over $10 million – an unprecedented offering of super-high-end homes.

Considering just four Chicagoland homes sold for $10 million or more in all of 2023, the surge of 8-figure listings surprised many market observers. But for the agents who operate in this niche, both the timing and the head-turning prices of these listings make sense given the natural rhythms of Chicago’s luxury market.

“Luxury ebbs and flows,” said Jena Radnay, who is representing the seller of the $35 million lakefront property in Winnetka and sold two homes last year for more than $12 million apiece. “It’s not only about the market; it’s about these sellers and where they are in their lives.”

Sharon Friedman and Courtney Cook, who brought an $18 million home to market in September, just up the shore from Radnay’s listing, agree.

“Twenty years ago, we were pre-Great Recession. Money was flowing, and a lot of people bought big expensive homes. Now, the kids are grown, and these homeowners don’t need or want 15,000 square feet. They’re ready to move on,” Friedman said.

Brokers also challenge the notion that the latest wave of uber-luxury listings is the result of any negative rumblings about Chicago in recent years. Carrie McCormick, who is representing two of the three new $10+ million listings in the city, noted that for every seller who is letting go of one of these trophy homes, ultimately there is a buyer who will scoop it up.

She said that one of the reasons wealthy people are drawn to Windy City real estate – other than the beautiful lakefront, rich culture, and dynamic business climate – is that Chicago, even at $10 million, $20 million or $30 million, still represents a great value relative to other markets. By comparison: this year a Palm Beach mansion sold for $152 million, an estate in Malibu sold for $210 million, and a penthouse in Manhattan sold for $135 million – unfinished!

Another indication that value exists in the upper reaches of the Chicagoland market is the fact that, according to these agents, none of the homes they are selling could be built today for what the owners are asking.

“For someone to recreate what my client has at 419 Sheridan, it would be double the acquisition cost,” Radnay said of her $35 million listing, which includes a 22-room mansion, two-bedroom coach house, covered outdoor entertainment pavilion, botanical gardens, pool, boathouse, and 223 feet of private beach frontage. If the home sells anywhere near its list price, it will set a new record for an existing home sale on the North Shore.

McCormick’s clients are asking $10.8 million for the penthouse at 4 E. Elm, which was completed just a few years ago and fully customized during a two-year buildout. She said it would cost between $14 million and $16 million to replicate it.

“Homeowners at this level…they build it to enjoy it, to experience Chicago the very best way they can. When they improve these properties, it’s rarely about return on investment,” McCormick said.

That may give some indication as to who the likely buyers are for these homes.

“What I’m seeing on the North Shore are homebuyers who love Chicago, who have local or Midwestern roots, often going back generations. They’re ambassadors for Chicago, and they want to live here forever,” Radnay said.

Added Courtney Cook, “In this price range, the home often finds the buyer. It’s not like these buyers are thinking, ‘I want to spend about $18 million.’ They want what they want, and if a home speaks to them, they certainly have the means to step up and buy it.”