RealtyTrac released their April Foreclosure Market Report yesterday and it shows a continued decline in activity for the nation as a whole. Foreclosure activity in Chicago continues in a general decline for the third month in a row after trending upwards for 6 months. Declines were experienced across the board in default notices, bank repossessions and auctions. As you can see in the graph below activity for the last year remains lower than the previous 2 years.
According to Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac, “more distressed loans are being diverted into short sales rather than becoming completed foreclosures.” That’s good for buyers since in my experience short sales are better deals than foreclosures, except for the PITA factor.