Buyers put 3,433 units under contract in 2003, according to Appraisal Research Counselors' "Downtown Chicago Residential Market Overview," but Lissner dispels the notion that it was driven largely by interest rates near historic lows.

The 3,433 units absorbed marked the third straight year of decline, from a high of 5,625 in 2000, according to the company's report, but Lissner suggests it is no cause for alarm. "This number is very consistent with four of the last six years in the market," she says.

While multifamily rental property operators have bemoaned low interest rates for luring tenants from higher-rent buildings into condominiums and townhouses, Appraisal Research Counselors' report notes interest rates were in the 7% neighborhood in 2000, before declining in each of the following three years.

"Interest rates are not directing decisions in signing a contract to buy a unit," Lissner says. "The interest rates are tracking the absorption, when it should be the other way around."

Meanwhile, speculators remain players in the market, including Trump Tower, where sales are averaging $725 per sf, Lissner suggests. "I think anyone selling 260 units in a three-month period is attracting the speculators," she adds.

Sales at the project, scheduled to begin construction when the Chicago Sun-Times vacates 401 N. Wabash Ave. late this summer, are indicative of a fourth-quarter market trend that saw 44% of condominium sales involve units in proposed buildings, another 35% in buildings under construction and just 21% in completed projects.

"It's getting difficult to sell the delivered units," Lissner notes. However, some developers continue selling units delivered in the last millennium, while others have been marketing proposed projects for two years, she adds.