Business

Rents Rise in US Overall But Dip in Chicago and Minneapolis

Published

11 years ago

February 20, 2015

In this Sept. 24, 2007 file photo, a “for rent” sign is posted outside a home in Denver. Real estate data firm Zillow reports on U.S. home rental prices in January 2015 on Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

JOSH BOAK, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home rental prices rose at a steady rate in January, but prices barely budged or even dipped in parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

Real estate data firm Zillow said Friday that prices increased a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent in January compared with 12 months earlier. But some major cities are finding themselves with an excessive supply of apartments and houses, reducing price pressures for renters.

In the wake of the Great Recession, more Americans are shifting away from home ownership, often because their low-incomes make it difficult to save for a down payment or they live in cities with expensive housing.

The homeownership rate slipped to 64 percent at the end of 2014, the lowest level in two decades, according to the Census Bureau. Some of that decline also reflects the ravages from the housing bust that triggered the recession in late 2007, as foreclosures and overbuilding left plenty of empty houses.

Still, builders have started to respond to the greater demand as the job market improves and more millennials seek apartments. Over the past 12 months, there has been a 24.5 percent increase in groundbreakings for apartment complexes, according to a separate Census report released this week.

As more apartments come on the market, price pressures should ease for renters, said Svenja Gudell, director of economic research at Zillow. Modest increases or slight declines should help improve affordability, making it easier for renters to eventually transition to home ownership.

The additional supply is already evident in a few key markets.

Zillow reported that rents have fallen 0.5 percent in the Chicago area and 0.3 percent in Minneapolis over the past year.

“Chicago did a whole lot of overbuilding during the housing boom,” Gudell said, noting that some select downtown neighborhoods in the Windy City still have prices rising at or above the national average.

Dann Wunderlich, 24, lives with his fiancee in a “spacious” one-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Buena Park neighborhood. Together, they pay $1,050 a month, well below what Wunderlich says he was paying in 2011 for an apartment elsewhere in the city.

“People in our area move year to year because they’re consistently finding a better price,” Wunderlich said. “I know that’s what we did until we found this apartment. If we found a better apartment with a cheaper rent, we would move.”

Similarly, construction has been making more apartments available around Baltimore and Washington, where rental prices rose 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. A separate report by the rental marketplace Apartment List found that rents for a two-bedroom apartment in metro Washington were averaging $1,990 a month, up just 0.1 percent over the past year.

Other parts of the country are experiencing a rental boom.

Rents surged 16.2 percent in Fort Myers, Florida. The San Francisco Bay area also posted a double-digit gain.

___

AP Writer Hannah Cushman contributed to this report from Chicago.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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3 days ago

March 1, 2026

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Chase Oakland Community Center Hosts Alley-Oop Accelerator Building Community and Opportunity for Bay Area Entrepreneurs

Over the past three years, the Alley-Oop Accelerator has helped more than 20 Bay Area businesses grow, connect, and gain meaningful exposure. The program combines hands-on training, mentorship, and community-building to help participants navigate the legal, financial, and marketing challenges of small business ownership.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 21, 2026

Oakland Post

Bay Area entrepreneurs attend the Alley-Oop Accelerator, a small business incubation program at Chase Oakland Community Center. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Golden State Warriors and Chase bank hosted the third annual Alley-Oop Accelerator this month, an empowering eight-week program designed to help Bay Area entrepreneurs bring their visions for business to life.

The initiative kicked off on Feb. 12 at Chase’s Oakland Community Center on Broadway Street, welcoming 15 small business owners who joined a growing network of local innovators working to strengthen the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

At its core, the accelerator is designed to create an ecosystem of collaboration, where local entrepreneurs can learn from one another while accessing the resources of a global financial institution.

“This is our third year in a row working with the Golden State Warriors on the Alley-Oop Accelerator,” said Jaime Garcia, executive director of Chase’s Coaching for Impact team for the West Division. “We’ve already had 20-plus businesses graduate from the program, and we have 15 enrolled this year. The biggest thing about the program is really the community that’s built amongst the business owners — plus the exposure they’re able to get through Chase and the Golden State Warriors.”

According to Garcia, several graduates have gone on to receive vendor contracts with the Warriors and have gained broader recognition through collaborations with JPMorgan Chase.

“A lot of what Chase is trying to do,” Garcia added, “is bring businesses together because what they’ve asked for is an ecosystem, a network where they can connect, grow, and thrive organically.”

This year’s Alley-Oop Accelerator reflects that vision through its comprehensive curriculum and emphasis on practical learning. Participants explore the full spectrum of business essentials including financial management, marketing strategy, and legal compliance, while also preparing for real-world experiences such as pop-up market events.

Each entrepreneur benefits from one-on-one mentoring sessions through Chase’s Coaching for Impact program, which provides complimentary, personalized business consulting.

Garcia described the impact this hands-on approach has had on local small business owners. He recalled one candlemaker, who, after participating in the program, was invited to provide candles as gifts at Chase events.

“We were able to help give that business exposure,” he explained. “But then our team also worked with them on how to access capital to buy inventory and manage operations once those orders started coming in. It’s about preparation. When a hiccup happens, are you ready to handle it?”

The Coaching for Impact initiative, which launched in 2020 in just four cities, has since expanded to 46 nationwide.

“Every business is different,” Garcia said. “That’s why personal coaching matters so much. It’s life-changing.”

Participants in the 2026 program will each receive a $2,500 stipend, funding that Garcia said can make an outsized difference. “It’s amazing what some people can do with just $2,500,” he noted. “It sounds small, but it goes a long way when you have a plan for how to use it.”

For Chase and the Warriors, the Alley-Oop Accelerator represents more than an educational initiative, it’s a pathway to empowerment and economic inclusion. The program continues to foster lasting relationships among the entrepreneurs who, as Garcia put it, “build each other up” through shared growth and opportunity.

“Starting a business is never easy, but with the right support, it becomes possible, and even exhilarating,” said Oscar Lopez, the senior business consultant for Chase in Oakland.