Foreclosures are back up again for May 2012, especially for the seven counties of Cook, Will, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and DuPage overall according to stats compiled by ILFLS.com, the Illinois Foreclosure Listing Service. Clearly, the April 2012 decline of foreclosure filings in the Chicagoland area was just temporary. According to the data, property foreclosures have increased overall in the Chicago area compared to last month, April 2012, and compared to last year, May 2011. Nationally, Illinois is ranked the state with the 5th highest foreclosure rates following Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
In May, six of the seven Chicagoland counties showed an increase in foreclosure activity compared to April 2012. The total number of home foreclosure filings for the seven counties for April 2011 was 6,287. This is moderately lower than the total for May which reached 6,436. This is an overall increase of a little over 2% compared to last month. The largest increases from April to May were seen in the counties of Kendall, McHenry, and Kane. In Kendall County, foreclosure filings jumped from 393 in April to 435 in May accounting for over a 10% increase in filings. Filings in McHenry in April were 240 and increased 14% to 273 in May. The largest increase was seen in Kane county going from 115 in April to 143 in May; this was over a 24% increase.
Foreclosure filings for May 2012 have also increased from last year when in May 2011 foreclosure filings were at only 5,689. Comparing May 2011 to May 2012, there was a little over a 13% increase in foreclosure activity in May of this year compared to last. The three counties with the highest increases in the number of foreclosures filed from May 2011 to May 2012 were Kane, McHenry, and Will. McHenry county went from 224 foreclosures in May 2011 and increased almost 22% to 273 filings in May 2012. Kane county went from 349 foreclosure filings last May and increased over 24% to 435 in May 2012. Will had the largest increase from 481 foreclosures in May 2011 and jumped to 609, over a 26% increase. May is the 2nd month in a row to show year to year increases in the seven Chicagoland counties. Annual increases were also seen when comparing February 2011 to February 2012.
Lenders have initiated foreclosure filing processes against thousands more Chicagoland homeowners in May. This will likely result in an increase of short sales and property repossessions. That being said, it is unfortunately likely that home values will continue to be bogged down in upcoming months.
Cristina Sivak
Original publication: May 2012 Shows A Small Increase of 2.4% In New Foreclosure Filings In Chicagoland