Today, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) released March 2015 values for its Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks the prices of existing single-family homes in 20 U.S. metro areas. The index in each metropolitan area extends from a base value of 100 in January 2000. For example, Chicago’s March 2015 index value was 127.77 before seasonal adjustment; this translates to a 27.77 percent appreciation since January 2000 for a typical home in the Chicago market.

• All 20 cities tracked and both composite indices showed positive year-over-year returns in March. In Chicago, the index increased 3.4 percent from 123.61 in March 2014 to 127.77 in March 2015. This growth was comparable to February 2015, when prices increased 3.2 percent from the previous year.
• Chicago’s March 2015 index level increased by 0.9 percent over 2015, comparable to the 10-City and 20-City Composite monthly growth rates (0.8% and 0.9%, respectively).
• In a press release, Standard & Poor’s Index Committee Chairman David M. Blitzer said, “Home prices have enjoyed year-over-year gains for 35 consecutive months. The pattern of consistent gains is national and seen across all 20 cities covered by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.”

Source: S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

The full press release and additional data can be found on the S&P website.

Note: values reflect non-seasonally adjusted data, which are typically more appropriate for annual comparisons than monthly ones; however, due to heightened volatility in recent housing values that can skew the seasonal adjustments, S&P recommends using the non-seasonally adjusted numbers, even for month-to-month comparisons.

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