Chicago’s Outer Suburbs Climb Multifamily Market

As Chicago’s suburbs reel in multifamily investors, outer-ring communities that were once overlooked are gaining momentum.

Multifamily sales in the suburbs were up 40 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, Chicago-based brokerage Interra Realty found, and a few counties stood out in the competitive field.

Out of the metro area’s total multifamily sales, the share of sales that took place in Kendall County was up 300 percent, and a whopping 550 percent in Will County, compared to the same time period last year, according to new analysis from Interra.

“As renters migrate to these areas in search of space and affordability, investors are following suit to capture that steady demand,” said Patrick Kennelly, Interra’s managing partner for suburban multifamily.

Until recently the multifamily market in these western and southwest suburbs had been outshined by areas closer to downtown Chicago like DuPage and Lake counties.

Chicago’s steady job market and measured supply has made it a strong base for multifamily investors. The Midwest as a whole has surged to the top of rent growth charts, bringing in a wave of institutional buyers this year betting that limited development pipelines in the region will let landlords keep pushing rents. Meanwhile, markets like Denver and others are slowing price hikes as a glut of new supply comes online.

In the Chicago area, Interra recorded 155 apartment building sales between $1 million and $50 million during the first three quarters of 2025 compared to 115 in all of 2024. Cook County still dominated, despite its chaotic property tax conditions, with 94 deals made so far this year.

But interest is spreading to farther flung communities.

In the first three quarters, there were 24 transactions in DuPage County, 11 each in Lake and Will counties, seven in Kane County and four each in Kendall and McHenry counties.

The boost in Will and Kendall counties is particularly notable as rents continue to jump in the urban core and its surrounding suburbs.

Will County’s largest transaction last quarter was the sale of the Lincoln Station Apartments. After a decade-long construction quest and an ensuing legal dispute, rescue capital lender 7 Acre Investments gave developer Richard Gammonley the green light to sell his newly built complex in New Lenox. Miami-based JSB Capital bought the 220-unit property from Gammonley and 7 Acre for $65 million.

There’s also been a growing crop of major developments stretching west into Kendall County, where two multifamily sales of more than $80 million took place this year.

In June, the Emblem Apartments in Oswego were sold by their developer, homebuilding giant Lennar’s multifamily arm Quarterra, for $84 million to an affiliate of a J.P. Morgan real estate investment trust, public records show. That was followed with an Oct. 1 purchase by New York-based DRA Advisors of the 368-unit Aurora at Summerfield Apartments within Kendall County for $88 million.