The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University recently published this overview of the “socioeconomic factors affecting demand for housing in Chicago.”

Here is the change in population in the City of Chicago from 1950 to 2016:

And here is a comparison between Chicago and the five biggest cities in the US. Note the “sun and sprawl” phenomenon. Also note that the list below is for city proper boundaries.

One particularly interesting set of stats is the decline of children (population under the age of 18) in the city:

Since 2010, the city has lost over 40,000 children and teenagers. 

But, if you break it down by neighborhood market type, it is the low-cost and moderate-cost neighborhoods that lost the population. The high-cost neighborhoods were up.

The study posits that the old trend of moving to the suburbs after you have kids may not be for everyone – provided, of course, that you have the means. And it goes beyond Chicago. DC is predicting a 25% increase in K-12 students within the District.

For the rest of the charts, click here.

I very much enjoy the branding and marketing side of the development business. It’s probably an architect / designer thing. So I’m always looking out for interesting case studies.

Recently I came across The Flynn in Chelsea, New York. The developer is IGI and the agency is Winkreative.

What they did was create a namesake character named Flynn. Everything then became about a day in the life of. 

The Instagram account is flynninthecity. They made colorful animations. And they even partnered with the Spring Street Social Society to host in-person performance art pieces. The Being Flynn series was a bunch of vignettes that combined “dance and physical comedy” and highlighted a cast of fictional characters who all, of course, reside at The Flynn.

As you all know, selling condos is typically about selling a lifestyle. A dream. In this case, they created a character to show you exactly what that dream should be.

Real estate marketing can sometimes often be cheesy. But I thought this was a clever and overall creative approach. Winkreative does great work.

What do you think of the approach?

Image: Winkreative

Introducing The Lofts at SoDoSoPa and The Residences at The Lofts at SoDoSoPa (South of Downtown South Park).

The following South Park video is a great parody of every real estate marketing video you’ve ever seen. Real estate marketing can be so terrible.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPmjcBnxIs?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

This video is probably old news, but I never watch TV and so it’s the first time I’m seeing it.

If you can’t see the embedded video, click here.

The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University recently published this overview of the “socioeconomic factors affecting demand for housing in Chicago.”

Here is the change in population in the City of Chicago from 1950 to 2016:

And here is a comparison between Chicago and the five biggest cities in the US. Note the “sun and sprawl” phenomenon. Also note that the list below is for city proper boundaries.

One particularly interesting set of stats is the decline of children (population under the age of 18) in the city:

Since 2010, the city has lost over 40,000 children and teenagers. 

But, if you break it down by neighborhood market type, it is the low-cost and moderate-cost neighborhoods that lost the population. The high-cost neighborhoods were up.

The study posits that the old trend of moving to the suburbs after you have kids may not be for everyone – provided, of course, that you have the means. And it goes beyond Chicago. DC is predicting a 25% increase in K-12 students within the District.

For the rest of the charts, click here.

I very much enjoy the branding and marketing side of the development business. It’s probably an architect / designer thing. So I’m always looking out for interesting case studies.

Recently I came across The Flynn in Chelsea, New York. The developer is IGI and the agency is Winkreative.

What they did was create a namesake character named Flynn. Everything then became about a day in the life of. 

The Instagram account is flynninthecity. They made colorful animations. And they even partnered with the Spring Street Social Society to host in-person performance art pieces. The Being Flynn series was a bunch of vignettes that combined “dance and physical comedy” and highlighted a cast of fictional characters who all, of course, reside at The Flynn.

As you all know, selling condos is typically about selling a lifestyle. A dream. In this case, they created a character to show you exactly what that dream should be.

Real estate marketing can sometimes often be cheesy. But I thought this was a clever and overall creative approach. Winkreative does great work.

What do you think of the approach?

Image: Winkreative

Introducing The Lofts at SoDoSoPa and The Residences at The Lofts at SoDoSoPa (South of Downtown South Park).

The following South Park video is a great parody of every real estate marketing video you’ve ever seen. Real estate marketing can be so terrible.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPmjcBnxIs?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

This video is probably old news, but I never watch TV and so it’s the first time I’m seeing it.

If you can’t see the embedded video, click here.