S&P/Case-Shiller indices published today reported an 11% single family home price increase in the Chicago area between November 2012 and November 2013. Real estate prices are back to 2005 pre-crash levels – this seems to be a consensus amongst the city’s top realtors. Rapid appreciation will most likely slow down with rising interest rates and many predict that the market will move up in a more gradual fashion in the months to come. Hopefully improved market values prompt homeowners who have been under water in the past few years to consider selling. A significant shortage of inventory is still putting upward pressure on home prices. It will be very interesting to see how these two opposite factors play out in the market as it gets to the “new normal”.