From Appraisal Research Counselors‘ 4Q 2010 Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report:
For the 4Q 2010 report, Appraisal Research Counselors conducted a survey of closed sale prices on a per square foot basis in 60 large high-rise buildings (widely varying in age and location and totaling more than 18,000 units) in the greater Downtown Chicago area to determine the trends in pricing taking place and how they compare with the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Chicago and the nation.
Based upon our study of sales in this sample of buildings from 2002 to 2010, it is apparent that prices have dropped approximately 15% from their peak levels in 2007. Similar to Case-Shiller, we found that the 2010 average sale prices in these buildings are similar on a per square foot basis to the 2002 price levels. Unlike Case-Shiller, our findings found a lesser increase in value to the peak and thus a lesser decline. However, the overall conclusion that Chicago is back to 2002 prices was confirmed. During this same period of 2002 to 2010, CPI increased 21.2% (2.4%/year).