Rent prices have continued to rise, as expected in Class A Chicago markets such as River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Lincoln Park and Lakeview.

The following are my own stats for the time period of July 1st to August 15th.

“Near North Market” Comprised of River North, Streeterville, Gold Coast, & Old Town

2010 – Total of 497 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $1,978

2011 – Total of 446 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $2,182

TOTAL INCREASE IN “NEAR NORTH MARKET” OF 10.3% YEAR OVER YEAR

Lincoln Park

2010 – Total of 161 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $2,166

2011 – Total of 229 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $2,251

TOTAL RENT INCREASE FOR LINCOLN PARK OF 3.9% YEAR OVER YEAR

Lakeview

2010 – Total of 335 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $1,632

2011 – Total of 335 Units Rented with an Average Rent Price of $1,892

TOTAL RENT INCREASE FOR LAKEVIEW OF 15.9% YEAR OVER YEAR

While Lakeview and the Near North Market have similar increases to previous months we see Lincoln Park only saw a 3.9% increase…what can explain this? What I believe we need to look at in Lincoln Park is the total average rent price. We saw that last year during July/August the average rent price of already relatively high, above $2,100 which would make it higher than the downtown market. In comparison to other months, this is unusually high for Lincoln Park. I contribute this to a few different factors, but mainly I believe due to DePaul’s school year (trimester schedule) which has many people looking for apartments around this time frame. Since this time of year is already unusually high, rent prices cannot truly act in accordance with other markets such as Lakeview or Downtown. I believe with an average rent price of $2,251, Lincoln Park is starting to cap itself off. With this pricing, renters can easily look at more desirable areas such as River North or Gold Coast and those renters who cannot afford to pay the higher prices in Lincoln Park probably moved further north to Lakeview where their dollar stretches more. This could account for the very high 15.9% rent increase in Lakeview.