There’s plenty of evidence in various communities in and around Chicago that real estate continues to sell and appreciate.

The Chicago Tribune recently reported on condo growth in the north suburban City of Evanston.

Also, NBC Channel 5 aired this report titled Still Selling.

Real estate news columnist Don Debat cited a study that showed that the number of sales of attached homes, mainly condominiums, rose in more than two dozen Chicago neighborhoods in 2007.

And while there is no denying that sales are down overall in many areas, there is still quite a bit of heartening news. According to the Illinois Association of Realtors®, the 2007 Chicago metropolitan condominium median price was $228,000, up 4.2 percent from 2006.

And consider this startling analysis in light of the housing news reported hour after hour, day after day in the news media:

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist for Wells Fargo Capital Management, says “Even if housing prices declined 20 percent from peak levels, they would return to levels first reached in the summer of 2004, and would still be almost 55 percent above their level at the start of the decade.”

The emphasis in that final line of Mr. Paulsen’s commentary is our own. We thank him for contributing such valuable perspective.