Illinois ranks first in foreclosures for first time

RealtyTrac just released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for August 2012. The report:

… shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 193,508 U.S. properties in August, an increase of 1 percent from July but down 15 percent from August 2011. The report also shows one in every 681 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

“Bucking the national trend, deferred foreclosure activity boiled over in several states in August,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. “In judicial states such as Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, this was a continuation of a trend we’ve been seeing for several months now. The increases in Florida and Illinois pushed foreclosure rates in those states to the two highest in the country — supplanting the non-judicial states of Arizona, California, Georgia and Nevada. Previous to August, the nation’s top two state foreclosure rates have been from those four non-judicial states every month since December 2010.

“Meanwhile foreclosure activity in most non-judicial states stayed on a downward trajectory in August, with a few exceptions,” Blomquist continued. “Most notably, Washington state documented a 38 percent annual increase in foreclosure activity in August after 16 straight months of year-over-year declines. The rebounding activity in Washington state is likely the result of lenders catching up with foreclosures delayed by a state law that took effect in July 2011 and allowed homeowners facing foreclosure to request mediation. This rebounding pattern will likely be repeated in the coming months in other states that have passed legislation delaying the foreclosure process.”
….
Illinois posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in August thanks to a 29 percent jump in overall foreclosure activity from the previous month. A total of 17,781 Illinois properties had a foreclosure filing in August, one in every 298 housing units and an increase of 42 percent from August 2011. Illinois foreclosure activity was up across the board — foreclosure starts increased 18 percent annually, scheduled foreclosure auctions were up 116 percent annually, and bank repossessions were up 41 percent annually. August marked the eighth consecutive month where Illinois foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis.

This was the first time since RealtyTrac began tracking foreclosures in 2005 that Illinois has ranked first in foreclosures.

In the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area August 2012 properties with foreclosure filings were up 27.67% over July 2012 and 44.24% over August 2011.

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