Chicago Agent Magazine reports that housing affordability is at its highest level in four decades, according to an analysis of Federal Housing Finance Agency data by the analytics firm Fiserv.

Illinois REALTOR® Jack Persin, the president/managing broker at Ryan Hill Realty and co-president of the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® told Chicago Agent that local markets in the DuPage County area have responded well to the historic levels of affordability.

“Absorption rates continue to drop,” Persin said. “In DuPage, where once absorption rates were running 10 to 14 month, we now find them nine months and under.

At the same time, Crain’s Chicago Business reports that downtown apartment rents hit another high in the first quarter of 2012. Read the full story.