Top-tier downtown apartment rents up 26% since 2009

From yesterday’s Crain’s Chicago Real Estate Daily:

Effective rents at top-tier, or Class A, buildings rose to $2.63 a square foot in the quarter, up 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter and 5.2 percent from a year earlier, according to Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago-based consulting firm. Effective rents, which account for concessions such as free rent, have risen more than 26 percent since bottoming out in 2009.

Crain’s goes on to note that more than 5,000 new units will be added to the downtown Chicago market this year and next, and serves up some speculation about how this will impact rents.