But what does this say about Chicago as a real estate market? A lot of the other top 10s were places that had been slammed by recession (Detroit, Phoenix, Los Angeles) and may have had nowhere to go but up. Home values in Chicago may have dropped some, but not like some of these other cities.

Minneapolis is the strongest for improvement, helped along by manufacturing and stable financial institutions. We do still have some manufacturing near Chicago,but probably not enough to keep people here or increase home prices. D.C. is protected from drastic home price drops becaus so many people there are employed by the government.

So investing in the Midwest seems like a good idea right now. Markets change slowly and steadily, and I think Chicago will continue to attract intellectual capital and thereby jobs over the coming years. Plus, the housing stock is reasonably priced in comparison to some coastal cities.