{"id":46,"date":"2018-01-15T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rmk.com\/blog\/?p=46"},"modified":"2019-01-18T17:30:28","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T17:30:28","slug":"after-apartments-flood-downtown-chicago-building-boom-reaches-suburbs-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rmk.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/15\/after-apartments-flood-downtown-chicago-building-boom-reaches-suburbs-chicago-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"After Apartments Flood Downtown Chicago, Building Boom Reaches Suburbs (Chicago Tribune)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After Apartments Flood Downtown Chicago, Building Boom Reaches Suburbs<\/strong><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

\"\"Ryan Ori<\/a>Contact Reporter <\/a>Chicago Tribune<\/span><\/p>\n

Signs of an apartment boom are all over downtown Chicago, where construction cranes and the beginnings of towers dominate the skyline.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s less visible and more spread out, but there’s an apartment construction spree happening in Chicago’s suburbs too.<\/p>\n

Rental construction reached its highest level in more than a decade last year in the Chicago suburbs, and 2018 is shaping up as another busy year. More than 4,200 units were completed in 2017, and about 3,900 more units are projected for this year, according to data from Marcus & Millichap and MPF Research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both totals are higher than in any year since at least 2004, and there’s no immediate sign of a letup.<\/span>
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“I think this has been an underserved niche for a long time, and it could be a while before supply catches up with demand, as it has in the city,” said Marcus & Millichap broker Ryan Engle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suburban rents have been rising along with supply, according to the Marcus & Millichap data. Through the third quarter of 2017, average rents (after factoring in free rent offered to new tenants) per unit rose 5 percent over the year-earlier period, while overall suburban vacancy fell to 4.1 percent, from 5.1 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Chicago area, apartment developers increasingly look to the suburbs »<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The rental resurgence is the result of several factors, including a rising disparity between suburban and downtown rents, pent-up demand after little new construction over the past decade, and declining home ownership, industry experts say.<\/span><\/p>\n

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