Who was going to buy all those expensive condos going up in downtown Chicago? The condo building pace has slowed significantly:

For the first time in years, there are no new large condo projects under construction in downtown Chicago.

Roughly 2,500 condos have been developed downtown since 2015 as multiple towers were constructed, and about 600 of those units are still available, said Gail Lissner, managing director for Integra Realty Resources.

But the high cost of construction and high interest rates, which are discouraging luxury home sales, have brought large-scale condo construction to an end, Lissner said…

Apartment developers can better handle high construction costs because downtown renters, many needing quick housing after starting new jobs, fill up new rental units much faster than buyers, who typically need to make far bigger commitments, especially with interest rates so high…

Most of the condos built in recent years are large, ultra-luxury homes, with multimillion-dollar price tags and more than 2,000 square feet, Lissner said. Those can be tough sells, especially since according to brokers the downtown is now attracting fewer upper-income empty nesters from the suburbs, who often seek homes easier to maintain.

This is cast as the result of the current economic and housing market conditions. There are fewer buyers because of higher mortgage interest rates.

How much of this is possibly due to less interest from people to move to Chicago? With the city slowly losing residents, is there still the same latent market for downtown condos? If market conditions were better, would there be robust demand for new condos?

Tracking the construction and filling of apartments could help answer this. How many new apartments are available and how demand is there for those? Any chance existing condo buildings will go the rental route?