Business & Tech

Expect Rents To Climb in North Side Neighborhoods

Want cheaper rent? Consider moving downtown, industry experts say.


With rents at downtown high-rises starting to fall due to market glut, North Side residential properties have seen net rents increase in the past year, Chicago Real Estate Daily reports.

In the next year, 6,200 rental units will open downtown. The abundance of units for rent and competition for tenants among high-rise building owners have already seen some downtown residential rents start to fall.

In North Side neighborhoods, where demand for apartments outpaces the supply, many building owners are hiking rents by 5 percent or more annually, Chicago Real Estate Daily says.

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“I don't see it leveling off in the near term,” says Lee Kiser, co-founder and principal of Chicago-based apartment broker Kiser Group told the business publication. “There's a lot of short-term rent growth to capture.”

Although development in North Side neighborhoods has been slow -- not enough room for bigger projects, and rents in other places aren’t high enough to make new buildings work, Kisor said -- two new rental buildings have opened.

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The 269-unit Halsted Flats opened near Wrigley Field earlier this year, and residents will move in next month into the 76-unit building Webster Square at Lincoln and Webster, the real estate business publication said.

While landlords in wealthy Lincoln Park and Lake View can command high rents, rent growth is more easily absorbed in gentrifying neighborhoods, such as Logan Square and Humboldt Park. Such neighborhoods have seen an influx of residents priced out of other neighborhoods.

One landlord says he recently raised rents on four units in one Logan Square building by 12 percent. Such double-digit increases, Chicago Real Estate Daily reports, are more the exception than the rule.

Chicago Apartment Finders, a tenant service, estimates that most landlords in the strongest neighborhoods have been increasing rents by about 5 percent.

Renters in the North Side’s most popular neighborhoods can continue to see rents climb in the next few years. Landlords are bracing for higher energy and water costs, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed tax hike, which will more than likely be passed along to renters.


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