Marie Schutt is the managing editor of Chicago Agent

This year was a rewarding one for Chicagoland real estate professionals, though not without its challenges. We’ve seen steady home price growth and a slew of new construction projects slated to bring thousands of new residential units to the downtown area. We’ve managed to avoid problems that have plagued the housing markets of other major cities, like overvaluation in Houston and Boston’s skyrocketing construction costs.

Last year’s panel gave us a lot to think about going into 2015. Hindsight is always 20/20, but this issue is all about looking ahead – we have a wealth of market data and analyses of the housing market’s performance in 2015, but only our local experts can tell us what real estate professionals are really looking for in 2016. Their projections for local, state and national real estate markets tell us not only what to expect from next year’s economy, but also how Chicagoland’s real estate leaders analyze trends and position themselves to succeed.

In this, our last issue of the year, we’re happy to report that 2015’s panel of experts is optimistic. We asked respected local agents, lenders, managing brokers, developers and others to weigh in on everything from market share of third-party aggregators like Trulia and Zillow to the future of new agents entering the industry. On the whole, their outlook on local home sales, home starts and unemployment is rosy, though opinions on housing inventory and Illinois’ financial situation are a mixed bag. Thanks again to this year’s 15 panelists for lending us their wisdom.

How confident are they in the economy and their own business heading into 2016? And how do their predictions compare to your own? Turn to page 16 to find out, and please send me any feedback (or your own predictions!) at marie@agentpublishing.com.