Today, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) released June 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 June 2015 index value was 131.72 before seasonal adjustment; this translates to a 31.72 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 June. In Chicago, the index increased 1.4 percent from 129.95 in June 2014 to 131.72 in June 2015. This growth was lower than that of May 2015, when prices increased 2.2 percent from the previous year.
• Chicago’s June 2015 index level increased by 0.7 percent from the previous month, slightly lower than the 10-City and 20-City Composite monthly growth rates (both increased by 1.0%).
• In a press release, Standard & Poor’s Index Committee Chairman David M. Blitzer said, “Nationally, home prices continue to rise at a 4-5% annual rate, two to three times the rate of inflation. While prices in San Francisco and Denver are rising far faster than those in Washington DC, New York, or Cleveland, the city-to-city price patterns are little changed in the last year. Washington saw the smallest year-over-year gains in five of the last six months; San Francisco and Denver ranked either first or second of all cities in the last five months. The price gains have been consistent as the unemployment rate declined with steady inflation and an unchanged Fed policy.”

The following charts illustrate home price comparison and trends.