The Foreclosure Report

Chicago Area Foreclosures 'Plateau'

Chicago Business has this report on foreclosures. "The pace of foreclosures on Chicago-area homes plateaued in January, reversing a December surge and bucking a trend of rising foreclosure rates across the nation. The number of properties either entering the first stage of foreclosure or moving to a more advanced stage in the six-county Chicago region rose 0.7% to 3,168 in January from 3,146 in December. That's down from the 47% jump in December, and well below the 8.5% statewide and 27% nationwide increases in January."

"'We have a greater cushion because we didn't have the speculative overexuberance that some areas had,' says (economist) William Hummer. 'And we're less vulnerable because of that. I think this is a trend that can stay in place.' Still, Chicago's foreclosure rate of one for every 968 households is higher than the national rate of one per 1,117 households. Georgia posted the highest January foreclosure rate among the 50 states at one for every 422 households, followed by Nevada, Colorado, Texas and Indiana."

"Chicago-area properties entering the first stage of foreclosure, or notice of default, rose 0.7% in January, a slowdown from the 51% spike in December. For the year, Chicago-area foreclosures rose 11%, compared with a 28% increase for Illinois and a 45% jump nationwide. 'There's been a lot more speculative buying in Las Vegas, Florida and California,' says Rick Sharga. 'Relative to the other major metro areas, Chicago is doing pretty well.'"

posted by Ben Jones @ 9:14 AM