RealtyTrac just released their September and third quarter foreclosure activity report a couple of days ago and for Chicago the numbers are still pretty low, running well under the levels we saw during the last 2 years. For the most part 2011 has been running below 3,000 properties per month as shown in the graph below.
Now some of the headlines you may hear will warn of a firestorm of foreclosures about to hit but we’re certainly not seeing it in the data yet. I need to see it to believe it.
Also of note is the fact that the foreclosure timelines have gotten a lot longer. A lot longer. According to RealtyTrac:
- U.S. properties foreclosed in the third quarter took an average of 336 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 318 days in the second quarter.
- Properties in the foreclosure process that sold during the third quarter (usually short sales) took an average of 318 days to sell after entering the foreclosure process, up from 245 days in the previous quarter.
- Bank-owned properties sold in the third quarter took an average of 193 days to sell after being repossessed by the bank, up from 178 days in the second quarter.