ATTOM Data Solutions updated their foreclosure activity data yesterday and issued a brief press release. For the nation as a whole April foreclosure activity was down on a year over year basis for the 31st consecutive month. The data for Chicago, which I’ve plotted below back to March 2009, shows that Chicago foreclosure activity in April was down 14% from the previous year and toward the lower end of the recent range. Given the huge month to month fluctuations, it’s not worth looking at the monthly changes.
Chicago Shadow Inventory
The big news for April though was the enormous decline in Chicago homes that are in some stage of foreclosure. You can see it in the graph below – a decline of 1218 homes in one month. That’s the biggest decline since April 2015. In many ways this number is more important than the activity numbers above because it tells you how many problem homes in total the city has – and each one represents a potential danger of some form to the community.
But this number is now down to just above 8000 units and I’m a bit skeptical about it at this point. If you will recall, a couple of weeks ago I posted a story on where recent foreclosures are happening in Chicago. In just a 3 month period I counted 2300 new foreclosures – homes that were technically in default. So it’s a bit preposterous to believe that there are only a tad over 8000 homes in foreclosure in total.
#Foreclosures #ChicagoForeclosures
Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service discount real estate brokerage. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market, get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry, or you just think he’s the next Kurt Vonnegut 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.