Illinois foreclosures dip, but don't expect it to last

The month of March heralded some good news for Illinois: foreclosures decreased by nearly 8 percent, compared to a year ago.

But that decline may not turn into a trend, considering the first quarter (January through March) showed a 17.5 percent increase statewide, according to data expected to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac.

The last time Illinois saw a year-over-year decrease in foreclosures was in November 2008.

"But that was followed by substantial year-over-year increases in subsequent months," said Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for the Irvine, Calif.-based research firm.

Either way, Illinois was No. 9 during the quarter and No. 10 during March nationwide in terms of the number of foreclosures.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings on 932,234 properties were made during the first quarter, a 16 percent increase from the same period a year ago. That means one in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing. Foreclosure filings were made on 357,056 properties in March, up about 8 percent from March 2009.

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."