04/01/18

By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Foreclosures in February showed a dramatic decrease in Illinois compared with last year and January, but the state still has the sixth-highest foreclosure rate in the U.S.

The number of foreclosures in Illinois dropped 37 percent from last year and 17 percent compared with January, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Geoffrey Hewings, emeritus director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois, gave a reason for the reduction.

“The foreclosure inventory – that is the number of houses that are in some phase of the foreclosure process – has declined from its peak in 2007, 2008 and 2009,” Hewings said.

Hewings also said pressure on the Illinois real estate market and a drop in the number of days a property is on the market has led to people taking a serious look at foreclosed properties. In the recent past, those properties would be viewed as tainted, Hewings stated.

“We have had several months where housing prices for regular properties have not changed, but for foreclosed properties, they have increased rather dramatically,” Hewings said.

Despite the foreclosure drop, Illinois still had the sixth-highest rate of foreclosures in the United States. Hewings put the blame on the state’s financial situation.

“People are not really motivated to put their properties on the market and to trade up because they are not sure if this is going to be a good investment in a state which is, by most standards, fiscally insolvent,” Hewings said.

Overall, Hewings said, the housing market in Illinois is stable, but there has been some concern that inadequate supply is hurting demand. Prices also are increasing month-to-month, but not at a rate that would constitute a housing bubble, he said.

“Prices have been increasing modestly, and I think it is a market that is sort of comfortable, in a sense that there is no indication that we are entering a bubble,” Hewings said.