How much have rents truly increased in Chicago? Now, with a typical rental season now behind us we can look at all the data and that is just what I have compiled for you. The main rental season is considered from April 1st through October 1st. However, I expanded a month on both sides and researched my data from March 1st to October 31st in 2010 and 2011. I only used RENTED Comparables from the MLS during this period. I’ve broken down the research into the following areas. The numbers next to the areas represent the “Area Number” in the MLS System.

Loop (8032)

River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Old Town (8008)

Lincoln Park (8007)

Lakeview (8006)

When I started putting the data together I further broke down the data by number of bedrooms. We obviously want to compare apples with apples here so we don’t have the numbers skewed. If for instance more 2 bedrooms rented in 2011 than in 2010 this may make our average rent price greater if we did not remove 1 bedrooms from the equation. So here are the numbers

CHICAGO LOOP (8032)

Studios

Average Price in 2010 $1,168

Average Price in 2011 $1,206          3.25% Increase 

One Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,512

Average Price in 2011 $1,620     7.1% Increase 

Two Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $2,215

Average Price in 2011 $2,338     5.55% Increase

Three Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $3,739

Average Price in 2011 $3,595       5.9% Decline

Why the decline in 2011? Hard to say. The rest of the market is up, however the sampling we had was small. Only 64 units rented in 2011 and 61 rented in 2010. For purposes of the MLS the “Loop” is bordered by the River to the North, Lake on the East, Roosevelt to the South and Halsted on the West.

CHICAGO NEAR NORTH SIDE: RIVER NORTH, GOLD COAST, STREETERVILLE & OLD TOWN (8008)

Studios

Average Price in 2010 $1,113

Average Price in 2011 $1,221     9.7% Increase

One Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,585

Average Price in 2011 $1,729     9.05% Increase 

Two Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $2,539

Average Price in 2011 $2,781   9.56% Increase

Three Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $4,400

Average Price in 2011 $4,830   9.78% Increase

The Near North area comprises several neighborhoods including River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville and Old Town. The borders are the Lake to the East, River to the South, North Avenue to the North and Halsted to the West. This area was relatively consistent in their year over year price increases no matter what size unit, whether it was a studio or a 3 bedroom.

CHICAGO LINCOLN PARK (8007)

Studios

Average Price in 2010 $887

Average Price in 2011 $990       11.56% Increase

One Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,302

Average Price in 2011 $1,427       9.6% Increase

Two Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,967

Average Price in 2011 $2,073    5.4% Increase

Three Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $2,852

Average Price in 2011 $3,003    5.31% Increase

CHICAGO LAKEVIEW (8006)

Studios

Average Price in 2010 $851

Average Price in 2011 $876    2.9% Increase

One Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,209

Average Price in 2011 $1,300   7.52% Increase

Two Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $1,699

Average Price in 2011 $1,889   11.19% Increase

Three Bedrooms

Average Price in 2010 $2,297

Average Price in 2011 $2,440   6.22% Increase

 

PAUL BLACKBURN – REALTOR

@ PROPERTIES

PAUL@PKBLACKBURN

www.TheChicagoRealtyBlog.com