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Drop in foreclosures here just temporary, firm says

The pullback of lenders due to government investigations into their documentation and procedures on foreclosures temporarily lowered the foreclosure rates in Illinois and other states. But don't expect that decline to continue.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, an online researcher on foreclosure data, is expected to release its December and full 2010 foreclosure report Thursday that says December showed a drop in the foreclosure rate, but it was still much higher overall for 2010.

In fact, Illinois continues to rank No. 9 for December figures, even while it showed a 21 percent drop in foreclosures due to the lender investigation, said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist.

“That pullback has been very consistent nationwide,” Blomquist said. “But we think the drop is temporary, and it's not truly stopping foreclosures, just delaying them.”

In December, Illinois showed 9,134 total foreclosure filings — including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — a 21 percent decrease from December 2009.

However, the full year of 2010 showed that Illinois had 151,304 filings, or a 15 percent jump compared to 2009.

In fact, Illinois joined with California, Florida, Arizona and Michigan to account for half of all foreclosures nationwide, the report said.

Nationwide, more than 3.8 million foreclosure filings were reported in 2010, an increase of about 2 percent over 2009. December actually showed a 35 percent decrease in filings compared to December 2009, the report said.

Illinois among hardest hit states