Program glitch inflates real estate prices in Chicago

A program used to analyze housing data has been identified as the cause of inflated median price calculations for the city of Chicago, the Illinois Association of Realtors announced today.

The program failed to recognize some data fields and subsequently eliminated an average of 11 percent of records per month beginning in November 2010. The error resulted in monthly median home prices elevated by as much as 25.5 percent.

The program used has been corrected; all reports since November 2010 have been updated to include the previously eliminated data; and data since the inception of the Chicago reports in 2008 has been verified, the association said.

The association also hired an outside certified public accounting and technology firm, Sikich LLP, to conduct an independent review of the issue, and the firm agreed with the association about the cause of the problem and its fix, the association said.

"IAR regrets the error and hopes that the swift determination as to the cause and engagement of an independent public accounting firm for validation allays any concerns as to the integrity of the revised reports," the association added.

The revised data is available here.

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