The Sun-Times real estate reporter recently wrote an article on the softening real estate market –
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hlife/hof-news-perks04.html

“First-quarter condominium sales in the key “downtown” markets were down by about 12 percent over the same period of 2005 — 2,243 sales compared with 2,517 in 2005, according to Appraisal Research Counselors of Chicago.”