The May Case-Shiller was the best news yet for Chicago’s housing market, with home prices in the city putting up some of the best numbers in the nation.

May’s Case-Shiller Home Price Indices report from Standard & Poor’s offered nothing but good news for Chicago’s housing market, with home prices rising 3.7 percent from April to May and 8.5 percent from May 2012.

Chicago was one of only five cities to post monthly gains of more than 3 percent, and its 3.7-percent uptick was actually the second highest in the nation, second only to San Francisco.

Home Prices Rising Nationwide

The news was similarly positive nationwide:

• The 10- and 20-City Composites, which measure home prices for the 10 and 20 largest metro areas in the U.S., posted monthly increases of 2.5 and 2.4 percent.
• For May, both Dallas and Denver reached new record levels in the Case-Shiller, the first time any city in the index has surpassed pre-recession highs.
• Year-over-year, the 10- and 20-City Composites were up 11.8 and 12.2 percent, respectively.
• As of May 2013, the most recent month of data for the Case-Shiller, home prices are back to their spring 2004 levels, meaning they are still approximately 24-25 percent below their June/July 2006 peaks.

 David M. Blitzer – “Home Prices Continue to Strengthen”

May’s Case-Shiller report, said David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, is further indication of a strengthening housing market.

“Home prices continue to strengthen,” Blitzer said. “Two cities set new highs, surpassing their pre-crisis levels and five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle – posted monthly gains of over three percent, also a first time event … Monthly numbers before seasonal adjustment showed all 20 cities experienced rising prices.”