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Of 100 big U.S. cities in the annual forecast Realtor.com released in late November, Chicago is expected to have the 84th-strongest residential real estate market in 2018, far better than this time last year, when Chicago placed dead last out of 100.
The forecast sees Chicago-area home prices rising by 2.57 percent during the year, up from last year's forecast, for a 1.9 percent increase. The improved forecast shows that "we see room for more price growth in Chicago," Vivas said.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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