By Mary Umberger
Tribune reporter
11:03 PM CDT, March 24, 2008
Home sales in Chicago and the nation, helped in part by steep price declines, took a surprise bounce upward in February, encouraging some to wonder whether the long-awaited “Are we there yet?” moment in housing’s downward spiral has arrived.
But no one was ready to pop champagne corks yet, as many in the industry cautioned against reading too much into short-term data, saying housing still has a long climb ahead of it.
Nationwide, existing-home sales rose an unexpected 2.9 percent from January through February, according to the National Association of Realtors, the first month-to-month uptick in seven months.
And in a separate report released Monday, Chicago-area home sales showed a one-month gain of nearly 10 percent in February, along with a 15 percent jump statewide.
The surprising housing data, along with news of an increased Bear Stearns bid by JPMorgan Chase, helped brighten the mood Monday on Wall Street, as the Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 190 points.
The increase in sales of existing homes came as prices across the country last month declined at the fastest rate on record: The 8.2 percent price drop since February 2007 is the biggest since the national trade group began keeping records in 1968.
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