Chicago Foreclosure Activity Up 8 Percent in February

Chicago Foreclosure Rate Second Highest Among Top 5 Metros
Illinois Foreclosure Activity Up 12 Percent

IRVINE, Calif. – March 28, 2008 — The eight-county Chicago metropolitan area reported 6,466 properties with foreclosure filings in February, an 8 percent increase from the previous month and a 20 percent increase from February 2007, according to the latest RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. One in every 475 households in the Chicago metro area received a foreclosure filing in February, the second highest foreclosure rate among five of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Chicago’s foreclosure rate was higher than the foreclosure rates in New York, Philadelphia and Dallas, but lower than the foreclosure rates in Los Angeles.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1 million properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“Foreclosure activity in the Chicago metropolitan area increased slightly in February,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “We expect that trend to continue for most of this year, driven largely by resetting interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages.”

Cook County foreclosure activity down 6 percent
Cook County reported 4,219 properties with foreclosure filings in February, a 6 percent decrease from the previous month, and the most of any county in the metro area. One in every 508 Cook County households received a foreclosure filing during the month, the fifth highest foreclosure rate among metro counties. Will County documented 700 properties with foreclosure filings in February, the metro area’s second highest total and a 105 percent increase from the previous month. Du Page County reported 618 properties with foreclosure filings in February, and Kane County reported 509 properties with foreclosure filings, the metro area’s third and fourth highest totals. McHenry County registered the fifth highest foreclosure total in the metro area, with foreclosure filings reported on 283 properties in February.

Will County posts metro’s top foreclosure rate
Will County’s foreclosure rate — one in every 309 households received a foreclosure filing in February — was the highest among metro counties. Foreclosure filings were reported on 700 Will County properties for the month, a 105 percent spike from the previous month and an 82 percent increase from February 2007. Kane County documented the Chicago area’s second highest county foreclosure rate in February, with one in every 321 households receiving a foreclosure filing — 1.7 times the national average.

Illinois documents nation’s seventh highest state total
Foreclosure filings were reported on 8,758 Illinois properties in February, a 12 percent increase from the previous month, and a 32 percent increase from February 2007. One in every 587 Illinois households received a foreclosure filing in February, a foreclosure rate that was slightly below the national average and ranked No. 12 among the 50 states.

A total of 223,651 properties with foreclosure filings were reported nationwide in February, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month, but still 60 percent ahead of the total reported for February 2007. One in every 557 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of foreclosure filings nationwide, statewide and by county in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Statistical Area Division over the preceding month. RealtyTrac’s report includes documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Defaults — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auctions — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank).

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

About RealtyTrac Inc.
Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (http://www.realtytrac.com/gateway_co.asp?accnt=137300), is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new construction properties, with more than 1 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal. For more information, visit http://www.realtytrac.com/gateway_co.asp?accnt=137300.