Market Trends

Tight labor market curbs job creation. The U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs in February, the lowest monthly total since September 2017. While the partial government shutdown and winter storms contributed to last month’s meager showing, the pace of hiring should recover in March.

Despite ongoing efforts to address the nation’s workforce housing crisis, it remains a critical issue in 2019, leading to a renewed push for rent control.

Multifamily developers don’t know what to expect when it comes to budgeting for materials prices. Apartment developers continue to be stressed by the unpredictable cost of construction materials.

A construction wave was supposed to test the downtown market this year, with competition from 4,400 new apartments—an annual record—hampering landlords’ ability to keep hiking rents and possibly even pushing rents down. Overbuilding often ends real estate booms, and the risk of that happening in Chicago seemed to be growing at the end of last year.

In the current cycle, property fundamentals are strong enough to withstand a shock to the system. Even if there is an economic downturn in the near future, the apartment sector is likely to hold up, according to industry experts.

Rising interest rates, a possible slowdown in new construction likely to keep apartment occupancies stable and rents growing.