In the year or two following COVID, Chicago had a PR problem. Taxes, crime, and crooked politicians to name a few. There was some reality to those headlines, but it was never as bad as my parents in Florida thought it was.

We’re finishing our second triennial cycle with Assessor Kaegi, crime has calmed down (and hopefully will continue with our new State’s Attorney), and every big city has its share of lousy politicians (and good ones as well).

Chicago real estate has grabbed some positive headlines lately given our rent growth while other markets across the country are experiencing receding rents. With very limited new supply in the pipeline, rents are poised to continue to increase for the next several years. Rather than hammer home stats about rent growth, pricing stability, and bore you with other real estate buzzwords, I wanted to share a few of my favorite Chicago characteristics that make it a city that should be on everyone’s radar for investment.

1. Chicago pulls talented, ambitious young people from across the Midwest. Look at a map. Chicago is a beacon for such a wide geographic area while the other major markets across the city have competing cities in close proximity.
2. Chicago has among the most diverse economies in the United States. Absent NYC, it may be the most. But we have clean sidewalks and affordability. 😊
3. The geography of the city, maturity of our neighborhoods, and strict zoning regulations put a moat around existing inventory. Phoenix is sprawling and continues to expand. It’s easy to get projects approved in Texas. Florida’s building stock stinks (strip malls, stucco, (puke emoji)). In Chicago, we have the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline to the East, beautiful vintage housing stock that is dense in our core neighborhoods, and zoning that takes long enough to work through to tamper overbuilding.

I was told this is a short form blog, but reach out to your favorite Interra broker so we can continue convincing you to invest in our backyard.

Joe Smazal is a Senior Managing Partner at Interra Realty where he works alongside Director Mark Dykstra. Joe has personally sold over 240 properties, comprised of over 5,300 units, for a total consideration of over $940,000,000, and received industry recognition and awards from Illinois Real Estate Journals and ConnectCRE. Joe graduated from the University of Iowa and is a licensed real estate broker in the State of Illinois.