Rent Prices in Chicago Are Spiking SIGNIFICANTLY More Than Mortgage Rates

Thinking about buying but worried about rising mortgage rates? Well, rents are also on the rise in Chicago, where some landlords have recently hiked rates of up to 20-percent. At a time when tenants are finding apartments harder to come by and even less affordable, landlords are using higher rents to help compensate for some of their lost revenue from the pandemic. Some are also trying to combat their own higher repair and operating costs, due to rising inflation.  

That has some residents turning to tenant rights organizations, which are calling for better rent control. On the flip side, others argue rent control isn’t the answer because it will drive out some landlords and lead to a greater number of poorly maintained properties.

Right now, many of the calls coming into a local tenants’ rights organization have been about rent increases of more than $100. Many of those tenants complain they weren’t given much notice their rent was about to go up.  

Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot has said in the past there could be some guardrails put in place to protect property owners from expected higher tax increases. However, that hasn’t done much to alleviate the fears of tenants or prevented landlords from raising rents due to the city’s high property tax rate. The effective property tax rate for Cook County and the state is the second highest in the nation, and about double the national average.