Rent Growth Spawns Chicago Multifamily Listings Despite Rates

The number of apartment towers getting slapped with for sale signs in downtown Chicago is growing, with 4,200 units across thirteen properties listed since April.

Sellers are hoping that strong rent growth will outweigh the high cost of borrowing.

Top-tier downtown building rents climbed 6.4 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, with Class A units averaging $3.99 per square foot, or nearly $2,800 total for a typical one-bedroom, CoStar reported. The city’s high rent growth and low new supply will likely push those rents ever higher.

The most recent apartment tower listings include those in and around the Loop, including Streeterville, River North and Fulton Market. Beyond the urban core of the city, apartment buildings have gone up for sale in suburban Chicago. Some of the properties hitting the market last traded less than two years ago, indicating investors are looking for short-term gains. The city is rated as No. 2 in rent growth among the nation’s largest markets, according to CoStar.

The listings could also be a sign that sellers were holding out over high interest rates but have given up on the waiting game.

Development firm Crescent Heights listed the 398-unit North Water Apartments in Streeterville recently after purchasing the 50-story residential and hotel tower at 340 East North Water Street for $173 million in 2023. Jason Buchberg, vice president of the firm, told the outlet that Chicago is a top performer and that investors are going to get deals where they can get done. Buchberg said the expectations of buyers and sellers are more aligned in the Midwestern markets than in other parts of the nation

Chicagoland has the lowest supply growth as a percentage of inventory among major investment markets nationally, according to Newmark.

Recent listings are testing the theory that rent growth potential can outweigh expensive capital. The Streeter, for instance, is a 49-story, 481-unit property at 345 East Ohio Street that went on the market in August. It was last sold in 2007 to the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio for $210.

Multifamily deal volume fell as interest rates ratcheted up through 2022 and 2023. There were $6.3 billion in multifamily sales in 2022; $4 billion in 2023; and $3.9 billion last year, according to CoStar. So far in 2025 there have been $2.7 billion in completed sales, putting the market on track to beat last year’s numbers.

Much of the volume this year and last has been suburban apartment buildings, including the E2 complex in Evanston that sold for a record $148 million last year, and the Naperville Fifteen 98 complex that sold for $136 million in August.

— Eric Weilbacher