Chicago metro tracking at +5% this year....too low?

[Paul Birkett]

Chicago BP'ers

Im doing some analysis for our upcoming sale of REO and Non-performing Notes in Chicago.

Case Shiller has the market at +5%. I think that's conservative......

I spoke to a handful of REO brokers and they tell me that REO inventory is running at 50% of average volumes. There are very few new foreclosures happening and brokers are getting multiple bids on most sales within a few days.

What do the local experts say? Should we expect better than 5% on average in these metros?