We have it on good authority that the cast of "Three's Company" would have approved of last week's Case-Shiller.

New data from Standard & Poor’s last week showed that Chicago home values increased for the third consecutive month in July, rising 1.9 percent from June.

Part of Standard & Poor’s hugely influential Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Chicago was one of 20 cities tracked by the index, and one of 17 of those cities to see its prices rise. Moreover, Chicago posted the fourth strongest metropolitan showing of the 20 cities – only Detroit, Minneapolis and Washington posted higher gains.

In a statement on the index, chairman David Blitzer said, “With July’s data we are seeing not only anticipated monthly increases, but some fairly broad improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices.”

Even with the gains, Chicago prices are still down from 2010. For the June-July period, 2011 prices are down 6.6 percent.

For a graph charting Chicago’s Case-Shiller performance, see this article by Chicago Real Estate Daily.