Foreclosures down in U.S., up 16 percent in Illinois

Foreclosures dropped nationally in January, but not in Illinois, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Illinois' 14,447 properties with foreclosure filings was 16 percent more than December, when the country saw a 10 percent decline to 274,399. Illinois showed an 85 percent increase from January of 2008 while nationally the increase was 18 percent.

In the suburbs, DuPage County's 1,000 homes in foreclosure were 68 percent more than December and 104 percent more than the same month a year earlier.

Cook County's 7,903 filings represented a 10 percent increase over December and 77 percent from January, 2008. The total in Lake County was 978 homes, up 3 percent from December and 112 percent from the same month in 2008.

In Kane County 922 homes showed an increase of 85 percent and 157 percent; Will County reported 1,356 homes with notices, increases of 72 percent and 298 percent, and in McHenry County the 436 homes were a drop of 8 percent from December, 2008 and an increase of 179 percent from January, 2008.

Dru Bergman, executive director of the DuPage Homeownership Center, said her staff guessed that DuPage County's relative affluence meant people had enough resources to pay their mortgages longer before getting in trouble. They also thought that being an area dominated by service employment meant job losses came later than in manufacturing areas.

Pat Callan, president of the Illinois Association of Realtors, said perhaps the problem is hitting Illinois later than areas with more serious foreclosure issues. Callan's Realty Executives Premiere office is in Wheaton.