Home sales rose to 5,752 from 4,320. The median price fell 10.4 percent to $183,000 from $204,200. For the year, home sales dipped 0.2 percent, a major improvement over the 25.1 percent plunge in 2008 vs. 2007. But the median price dropped 18.3 percent, compared to a 5.5 percent drop in 2008 over 2007.

In the city of Chicago, sales shot up 39.8 percent in December to 1,768 homes, compared to 1,265 a year earlier. The median price dropped 10.6 percent to $210,000 from $235,000. For the year, home sales fell 7.4 percent from 2008, compared to a 23.8 percent drop in 2008 over 2007. The median price dropped 22.4 percent from 2008, worse than the 0.5 percent decline in 2008 over 2007.

Statewide, sales rose 20.1 percent in December from a month earlier to 8,197, and the median price fell 1.9 percent to $152,000. Year-over-year sales dipped 1.5 percent, vs. a 22.2 percent drop in 2008 over 2007. Prices were down 14.6 percent, exceeding the 8.1 percent drop in 2008 over 2007.

Improvements in annual sales the last few months of this year “is forecast to continue through the first quarter of 2010, and there is evidence to suggest that median prices might be starting to inch upwards,” Geoffrey Hewings, director of the University of Illinois’ Regional Economics Applications Laboratory, said in a statement.

Statewide, the March 2010 median price is forecast to be just above the level recorded a year earlier, he said.  But Chicago’s median prices are still expected to be down by just under 8 percent, he said