The Case-Shiller posted long-awaited increases in April at both the national and local level.

Home prices in Chicago improved in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index, increasing 1.1 percent from March to April according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

That increase came after a 2.5 percent price decline from February to March, which had brought Chicago’s home prices to a new post-bubble low – and which suggests, with April’s gain, that prices have bottomed in the Windy City.

Nationally, some of S&P’s most important findings were:

• Prices increased for both the 10- and 20-City Composites by 1.3 percent.
• Like Chicago, those gains came after several months of falling prices (nationally, values had fallen for seven straight months).
• On an annual basis, prices did still fall by 2.2 percent for the 10-City Composite and 1.9 percent for the 20-City Composite, but S&P noted in its report that those declines were less than its last report, when annual prices fell 2.9 and 2.6 percent for the composites.
• For Chicago, year-over-year prices were down 5.6 percent, but again, that’s an improvement from the last index, when prices fell 7.1 percent.

David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said April’s index brought long-awaited increases in home prices.

“With April 2012 data, we finally saw some rising home prices,” Blitzer said. “On a monthly basis, 19 of the 20 MSAs and both Composites rose in April over March … In addition, 18 of the 20 MSAs and both Composites saw better annual rates of return. It has been a long time since we enjoyed such broadbased gains.”

Blitzer also noted that the seasonally-adjusted data for April was largely positive, “a possible sign that the increase in prices may be due to more than just the expected surge in spring sales.”