The latest report from Crain's Chicago Business is predicting that rents will inch up in the Chicago area in 2016 by 1 to 2 percent, even as a record number of new apartments come online downtown.
Developers will complete 4,000 apartments downtown this year and nearly 5,000 next year, a record level and a nearly 28 percent increase in the total supply, according to Appraisal Research Counselors.
Though the increase is far above the usual absorbtion rate, the overall occupancy rate ticked up in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 93.5 percent from 93.6 percent the prior year. The absorbtion rate, or the demand increase that fills apartments downtown, was 2,295, up from 2,247 the previous year.
Even as the demand increases, the record number of units being built could ultimately affect rents by testing overall demand.
Read more at Crain's Chicago here.