Sept. 29--Home prices in the Chicago area and in much of the nation rose in July, according to the S/Case-Shiller home price index.
Chicago-area home prices rose 0.9 percent in July, beating the nation's 0.7 percent, according to the widely watched index. Condominium prices were up 0.7 percent for the month.
It was the fifth straight monthly gain for the local market.
Still, price gains in the local housing market are cooling. In June, the area saw a 1 percent monthly increase, and condo prices ticked up 1.4 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, the Chicago area had the second-lowest rate of appreciation of any major metro market over the past year; its 1.8 percent annualized gain surpassed only Washington, D.C.'s 1.7 percent. Chicago-area condo prices were up 4.6 percent year-over-year.
Prices here are at about the same level as they were in late summer 2003.
"Prices of existing homes and housing overall are seeing strong growth and contributing to recent solid growth for the economy," David Blitzer, managing director of S Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement. "Other positive indicators of current and expected future housing activity include gains in sales of new and existing housing and the National Association of Home Builders sentiment index."
An interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve, "now expected in December by many analysts, is not likely to derail the strong housing performance," Blitzer added.
Nationally, home prices were up 4.7 percent in July, compared with a 4.5 percent annualized gain in June, according to the index.
"To many observers, the housing market is sending mixed messages right now," Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell said in a statement. "Median home values overall continue to grow at a modest clip, but many individual homes have actually lost value in the past year" despite new home sales being the highest since early 2008.
Last week, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported that in the Chicago area, 10,854 existing homes were sold in August, up 2.8 percent from a year ago. The median price was $220,900, up 2.7 percent from August 2014.
The S/Case-Shiller is calculated using a three-month moving average of home prices.
byerak@tribpub.com
