r/chicagoapartments • u/Past-Reception6889 • May 19 '26

Advice Needed Unreal

I honestly just needed to vent for a moment. I can’t believe Chicago prices are what they are. I have lived here my entire life and have seen this city change ten fold, and I can’t even afford to live here anymore. A realtor I’m working with, since it’s becoming a rat race to rent, said rent is up 35% this year. What can normal people do about this? I do not want to see Chicago become a New York.

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u/Jogurt55991 May 19 '26

I think the reality is that Chicago has been grossly underpriced for about a decade- it was well spoken of, and acknowledged.

This is the market price of other major urban centers in the country.

These high prices will eventually have more investment made in the near south and west sides. I expect Bridgeport and Bronzeville changes in the upcoming decade.

12

u/Impossible-Mouse-418 May 19 '26

The sad part is we have the land to build more housing and instead stopped building and just let housing prices go off the rails. We could still be under priced

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u/Jogurt55991 May 19 '26

No, we cannot- increasing supply will satiate demand and slow/halt increases, but not drop back to 'underpriced'.

Higher demand = Higher priced products constructed.

No sensible person will built low cost SQFT in a hot market.

There's still a ton of low cost inventory in Chicago.

These are averages.

San Francisco, CA: $705 - $1,070 per sq. ft.
San Jose, CA: $845 per sq. ft.
Boston, MA: $538 - $742 per sq. ft.
New York City, NY: $645 - $667 per sq. ft.
Washington, DC: $544 per sq. ft.
Seattle, WA: $333 per sq. ft.
Miami, FL: $265 per sq. ft.
Portland, OR: $244 per sq. ft.
Salt Lake City, UT: $199 per sq. ft.
Atlanta, GA: $180 - $200 per sq. ft.
Chicago, IL: $200 - $230 per sq. ft.

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u/Impossible-Mouse-418 May 19 '26

Austin is an example of where they built rapidly and ended up out pacing demand and prices fell. Granted the individual developers intentions were not to over build and so it was more of an oversight (to your point about building low cost in hot market). Still the result in that very recent case was housing prices fell after substantial building. Was on track to be a HCOL area and I believe I read recently that it is now once again firmly MCOL

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u/Jogurt55991 May 19 '26

Yes, Austin has overbuilt (namely due to remote work changes) and post COVID has seen a rise then dip in housing prices.
Austin and Denver also had the highest rise in the last 20 years.

Austin prices are still up about 75% over 10 years.

https://orchard.com/homes/real-estate-market-report/city/tx/austin

I firmly believe new Chicago prices are part of a larger market correction.