Illinois median home prices are nearly three-quarters of the way back to pre-recession levels when adjusted for inflation, according to a new forecast analysis from the University of Illinois Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL).

The latest REAL market forecast looked at March 2015 median prices and adjusted them for inflation to get a clearer picture of what is happening with recovering home prices. According to the data, the current median price in Illinois is 79 percent of the 2008 median price when you factor in the rate of inflation. For the nine-county Chicago PMSA region, median prices are 74 percent of pre-recession levels.

“March was an excellent month for the housing market with robust growth in both sales and prices,” noted Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of the University of Illinois.

According to Hewings, it could take 27-48 months for the Illinois market and 20-40 months for the Chicago PMSA market to be classified as fully recovered to pre-recession levels in terms of median prices.

Read the latest REAL forecast  | IAR’s release on improved March housing data