Chicago’s median house prices overstated

It acknowledged that it exaggerated the median sales price for May, but said it may have made a similar error in monthly reports for the last three years. Realtors It also said its monthly numbers for total home sales in Chicago may be inaccurate. The association publishes data on home sales statewide and for the Chicago region. Since February 2008, it has broken out numbers for the city itself. On June 21, the association said that for May, the median price for condominiums sold in Chicago was $299,000, a 10 percent increase from May 2010. The new figure would be a year-over-year decrease of 7. It was the only example of bad data that the group offered. We are very carefully going back over our numbers," said Mary Schaefer, communications director for the Realtors association. Schaefer declined to say if the mistake originated with her group or with the data source. Schaefer said the mistake does not affect the association's reporting of Chicago-area or statewide home sales. Chicago sales data were processed correctly for the regional and state reports, she said. Schaefer said those forecasts also are unaffected by the error. CoreLogic, a private market data firm, said the group was overcounting the number of home sales. Financial traders can speculate on home prices, but the contracts they deal are based on the S&P/Case-Shiller price index for major cities, including Chicago. Those indexes should be unaffected by problems with the Realtors' numbers, as Case-Shiller performs its own research and looks at only certain types of home sales. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.