Here’s just a quick update on Chicago foreclosure activity. Remember that, for all practical purposes, we are in the middle of an indefinite moratorium on foreclosures. It keeps getting extended because of all the people left unemployed from the pandemic. So it’s no surprise that every month the answer is pretty much the same, though some changes are beginning to percolate to the surface.

A couple of weeks ago ATTOM Data Solutions came out with their February Foreclosure Market Report which showed a 16% increase in foreclosures across the nation but that was still down 77% from a year ago. Oh, and Illinois had the third highest foreclosure rate in the nation.

Using their updated data on their RealtyTrac Web site I extended my Chicago foreclosure activity graph below which now shows 11 months of suppressed activity. February was 30% higher than January but it was still 83% below last year.

Chicago foreclosure activity has declined dramatically since the housing crisis. However, the recent plunge is the result of the moratorium placed on foreclosures in light of the Covid-19 crisis.

If we want any indication of what is really going on beneath the covers we have to look at the delinquency rate which I get from Black Knight’s Mortgage Monitor. For the nation it finally dipped below 6% in January but you can see that that’s well above the historic average still. And just before the pandemic hit we were down to a record low of around 3%. Sad.

The nation’s mortgage delinquency rate continues to improve, though it remains higher than it was 7 years ago

Chicago Shadow Inventory

As you might expect Chicago continues to clear the backlog of homes in foreclosure. It had a significant spike up in January but February more than erased that with an 878 unit decline. Makes me wonder if January just had bad data. But there is a clear downward trend and we are now below 2000 units.

The number of homes in foreclosure in Chicago continues to decline during the pandemic

#Foreclosures #ChicagoForeclosures

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.