S&P/Case Shiller Index Chicago and Country

Just released yesterday, the S&P/Case Shiller Index has some interesting and positive news for the month of August. It appears to continue the trend of stabilization that it seems like we're currently in. Particularly for the Chicagoland market that I work in, it continues 3 solid months of home value increases. This is welcome news for our industry and home sellers in general. Here's the top question that comes to mind: Will it last or is this just a blip?

Here's the problem. I personally feel that we need to see some improvement in the foreclosure department before we see a drastic improvement in the housing market in general and home values in particular. I'm just not seeing that happen at this point. There are two other factors in the mix. The winter market looming on the horizon and the ever-welcome homebuyer tax credit.

Is the government incentive responsible for this localized improvement in the market or is it something else? Could it be that we've reached a point where buyers can no longer put off a purchase and move forward with their lives? Lots of questions to be answered - hopefully we'll know what's going on in the next few months and can use that information to help advise our clients for 2010.