Too soon for ground-up apartments? In raising $100 million, Chicago’s Origin says no. Article originally posted on CoStar on November 5, 2025 A Chicago real estate fund manager is looking to raise $100 million for ground-up multifamily developments in fast-growing markets where an oversupply of development in recent years has pushed down rents. The firm believes this strategy will lead to reduced competition and increased profits in the next wave of construction. Origin Investments announced plans this week for the Origin Select Asset Fund, with proceeds to be invested into five apartment developments in the Sun Belt and Mountain States. The first two planned projects will be in Las Vegas and suburban Phoenix. In a statement, Origin said the $100 million short-duration fund will invest in projects that can move quickly, with zoning already in hand and sites ready for construction to begin. The thesis is that new projects will be well-timed amid a pullback in construction in areas of the country with growing populations. The construction slowdown followed a development boom in previous years to help meet rising demand, before an oversupply stalled rent growth. “We believe 2026 will turn out to be a great vintage for real estate,” Origin co-CEO Michael Episcope said in the statement. “The fundamentals are slowly improving and by the time we deliver these developments, the market will look very different.” That previous wave of construction led to an oversupply, which led even some of the fastest-growing markets to experience falling rents. Big, long-established markets in the Midwest and East Coast — Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Detroit — topped the nation in rent growth through the end of the third quarter, according to a CoStar analysis. Continued worries about oversupply are likely to lead to upcoming supply constraints in some emerging, faster-growing areas of the country, Origin estimates. Citing factors such as prohibitive homeownership costs, Origin said it believes rents will rebound in the coming years. Origin said it plans to finalize development investments from the fund by the end of 2026, with deliveries of units to occur in 2027 and 2028. The relatively fast deployment of the fund will allow investors to realize the value of their investments by 2031. “We have a pipeline of high-quality deals that will enable us to fully deploy the fund’s capital in less than 12 months,” Episcope said in the statement. The first two projects already have been identified, a spokesperson said. They include a 256-unit development in Las Vegas and a 353-unit development in suburban Phoenix. The statement did not specify addresses, investment partners or other details of those projects. Previous Origin funds have focused on niches such as tax-advantaged Delaware Statutory Trusts and opportunity zones. The firm was founded in 2007.