Chicago home prices up 2.5% in June

Home prices in the Chicago area rose for the third straight month in June, raising them up to a level equivalent with a year ago, new data released Tuesday shows.

While Chicago’s one-month price gains were greater than many of the cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, national economic trends are likely to temper future home price appreciation, economists said.

“It’s a mixed bag,” said Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, “Corporate profits are still strong, inventories are low and that’s supposed to be a positive indicator. But confidence is a major driver of the economy. What really bothers me is the very high level of long-term unemployment.”

Shiller added the nation could see “a jobless recovery that could last for years.”

Nationally, home prices are 3.6 percent above their level of a year ago.

Between the peak of the Chicago housing market in September 2006 and its trough in March, home prices plunged 29 percent. The 2.5 percent gain in June followed a gain of 1.2 percent in May.

Click here to read the full article …