Chicago Land Foreclosure Trends for 2011 based on 2010 statistics

As predicted by ILFLS.com in the beginning of 2010, there was a steady increase during the whole year, with some slowdown in numbers in September and October, due to the moratorium on new filings. The annual average % of increase was 4.81% per year for Cook County and 17.05% for the rest of Chicago land.

The highest increase was seen in McHenry County (29.76%) followed by Kendall County (22.17%) and Will County (20.16%). Last year Kane County was increased to 13.18%. The most affluent county, DuPage, has slowed down to 13.94% compared to the 2009 increase of 24.84%.

In 2010, there were total of 89,302 new foreclosure filings in the Chicago land area.

What do these numbers say?

Less foreclosure increases may mean that a more stable RE Market is expected, but we should also consider that hardly 10% of all foreclosures being filed are for mortgages from 2009 and 2010. Most of the properties currently in foreclosure are the ones purchased or refinanced in the 2007-2008 period. This tendency will continue throughout 2011 as well.

Cook County is behind on new foreclosure filings. As of right now, there are a lot of cases being refiled from previous years which may additionally increase the number of new filings. Everything seems under control in the rest of the counties - the ones the furthest west of Chicago being hurt the most: Kendall, McHenry & Will County.

It's also interesting to consider the number of REO's and properties sold to investors during the 5 year period from 2006 to 2010.

In 2009 there was a decline in the REO's for Cook County (-12.72%) which was compensated in 2010 with 29.87% increase. In the surrounding 6-County area there was steady 23.03% increase in 2010 vs. 18.98% for 2009. There were total of 31,283 REOs in 2010.

Last year we saw an interesting change in the investor perception at the auctions. Cook County saw a 107.52% increase in the properties bought by investors. At the same time, DuPage county shortened with negative 17.43%. In 2010, there were total of 1,526 properties sold at the auctions.