Recently employed residents are forming new rental households in Chicago, which generates positive net absorption of apartment units; however, there isn’t enough supply yet to meet that increasing demand.

Steadfast Income REIT has made its second Oklahoma City-area acquisition of the young year.

An expansion in payrolls is likely to add an exclamation point to an already strengthening multifamily sector in Louisville, as employers such as UPS, General Electric and Ford plan to boost hiring in the metro throughout 2012.

Mercy Housing Lakefront and National Housing Trust/Enterprise Preservation Corp. have obtained financing for the rehabilitation of the Pullman Wheelworks, a 210-unit affordable housing apartment building on Chicago’s south side.

BMO Harris Bank has extended a $4.7 million construction loan to the Latin United Community Housing Association to provide renovations on the Borinquen Bella Apartments.

Two low-income senior housing developments in the St. Louis suburb of Shrewsbury, Mo., will gain a much-needed capital infusion of $6.6 million from the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.

The Matteson Companies announced the acquisition of Millworks; and NorthMarq Capital arranges an $11 million Freddie Mac refinance for a property in Minneapolis.

Essex Realty Group has been named the exclusive broker for a 740-unit portfolio of five buildings in the Uptown and Rogers Park neighborhoods of Chicago.

Ground has been broken for Franklin Station, a 100-unit affordable apartment property in Columbus that will serve elderly and special-needs homeless people.

“We’ve been through a very difficult recession, but the rental market has pulled out of it more quickly than other parts of the economy. More and more people will be choosing renting,” says Chicagoland Apartment Association vice president.