Inflated Figures Raise Questions About Real Estate Data

July 18th, 2011 | by ashley gordon |

The Illinois Association of Realtors is trying to figure out a little price inflation. Last week the trade group admitted that it had been releasing some overly cheery housing data for Chicago. For example, last month the IAR had the median existing condo price in the city for May at $290,000 when it should have been at least $50,000 lower.

These errors could go back as far as 2008 but the revelation came only last week, following inquiries from the Chicago Tribune. The IAR said the inflation was not intentional; Dennis Rodkin joined Alison Cuddy to explore the numbers. Rodkin is the Deal Estate columnist for Chicago magazine.

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