RealtyTrac released the March nationwide foreclosure numbers yesterday and Illinois came in 10th in the nation for foreclosures in March and 9th in the nation for the first quarter.
March actually saw an 8% decrease year over year in the number of foreclosures, the first such year over year decrease since November 2008.
Before breaking out the party hats, it should be pointed out that foreclosures actually jumped 17.5% for the quarter, compared to the first quarter of 2009.
RealtyTrac doesn’t believe the downward trend in foreclosures, such as we saw in March, will hold.
From the Daily Herald:
Illinois had 14,199 properties with foreclosure filings during March and 45,780 for the first quarter.
While the first-time homebuyer stimulus credit helped, another federal program came into play. The short-sale incentive program had an impact in Illinois, Blomquist said.
“I say this because the decrease in Illinois numbers comes all in the first two stages of foreclosure (default and scheduled auctions), and it is during those two stages that a short sale might occur,” he said. “Defaults were down 5 percent from March 2009, and scheduled auctions were down 42 percent from 2009, while bank repossessions were up 34 percent from March 2009.”
From the Chicago Tribune:
In January, nearly 6,000 Illinois homes became classified as real-estate owned, or bank-owned. That compares with 2,641 in January 2009. In February, it was nearly 5,000 properties, compared with nearly 3,000 homes in the same month a year ago. Last month, it was another 4,424 properties, compared with about 3,300 homes in March 2009.
HAMP, detailed a year ago, was implemented to slow foreclosures. In the Chicago area in March, 39,914 homeowners were in active trial modifications and another 11,333 homeowners had received permanently modified loans since the program’s start, according to Wednesday’s Treasury report. But although the number of homeowners whose trial plans were made permanent increased 40 percent in a month’s time, the number of consumers was down from 43,215 in February. A drop in active trial modifications was expected nationally. Beginning June 1, the government said consumers applying for a trial modification would have to provide full documentation of their income, but many lenders began applying that requirement in March.
Illinois bank-owned foreclosures double in first quarter [Chicago Tribune, Mary Ellen Podmolik, Apr 15, 2010]
Illinois foreclosures dip; but don’t expect it to last [Daily Herald, Anna Marie Kukec, Apr 15, 2010]
