State's foreclosures jump 62% in February

The land of Lincoln is becoming the land owned by the banks as Illinois saw the number of foreclosures soar 62 percent in February, compared to a year earlier, according to a report expected to be released today.

Illinois was No. 7 with the most foreclosures in year-over-year comparisons nationwide. The state also saw a slight decline of 1.59 percent from the previous month, said Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

"An increase in unemployment has contributed to that increase in foreclosures in Illinois," said spokesman Daren Blomquist. The state reported Wednesday that unemployment jumped to 7.9 percent, the most in 15 years, during January.

The RealtyTrac report shows foreclosure filings - including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - on 14,218 properties in Illinois during February,

Nevada was No. 1 with 15,783, while Nebraska was No. 50 with 13.

Nationwide, foreclosures were reported on 290,631 properties during February, an increase of nearly 30 percent from February 2008.

The report also shows one in every 440 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in February.

While many homeowners resorted to refinancing and loan modifications in recent months, and President Obama's new plan to help troubled homeowners debuted, the foreclosure numbers continued to rise, Blomquist said.

"It's surprise that all of those things were going on, yet the foreclosure numbers were among the highest," he said.