-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Downtown apartment rents jumped again last quarter, and they're expected to continue rising as the city stares down a supply shortage. The net monthly rent at Class A, or top-tier, apartment buildings in downtown Chicago jumped 8.03% in the third quarter of 2025 from the same quarter last year
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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A third of office space is vacant, yet apartments in chicago are in high demand? It doesn’t add up. Rent in (other states) “hot” job markets is stable and the article says supply there is adequate. Why is chicago the outlier? It certainly isn’t the weather, the education or the safe streets. Our unemployment is the highest in the nation and overpriced apartments would be among the first to feel the impact. Chicago unemployment is highest in nation There is a suspiciously high jump in “absorption” in 2021 that seems to tie in with the surge of illegal border activity… Read more »
Also could blame the city for the cost and difficulty in converting empty buildings to apartment’s