Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 9

22 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 “ LAR I CY ” surprisingly, his firm is seeing unprecedented success, even through the challenges impacting the Chicago real estate market during COVID-19. BVM: Matt, how has the pandemic impacted real estate in the Chicago area? Laricy: We’ve experienced so many different Chicago’s since COVID began. There have been periods of fear and frustration, and periods of courage and celebration. It’s depended a lot on the activity of the virus, among other simultaneous events like the episodes of civil unrest. At our worst point we had 24 months of inventory, which is double what we saw during the Great Recession. Right now, Chicago feels like a different world. Three or four months ago there were hardly any people around and everything was boarded up. Now, there are people enjoying the beautiful summer weather and all the fun the city has to offer. But as we’re seeing, it can all change again so quickly, especially with newer developments like the Delta Variant. The good news is, even with more changes coming down the line, fear is still melting away. Now that we have vaccines and a better understanding of how COVID operates, people are moving around more confidently. It’s energizing to see the city opening up, which has a huge positive impact on our real estate market as well. Our high-rise market, which has been so soft, is really starting to really pick up. Out of state and in-town buyers are coming back too, and I think our international market is going to make a comeback in Q4 of this year. One thing we know about Chicago, is that our people and businesses are incredibly resilient, and we will continue to move forward in a positive direction. BVM: Would you say it’s a buyers’ or a sellers’ market right now in the heart of Chicago? Laricy: “In the downtown market, it’s definitely a big buyers’ market. We have nine months of Matt Laricy, founder and Managing Broker of Laricy