Jan. 13 at 8:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
A vacant home in Chicago Lawn, Feb. 16, 2009. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Bank repossessions of foreclosed homes in the Chicago region soared almost 20 percent, to more than 45,000 properties in 2010, despite various government and lender programs designed to keep people in their properties and a slowdown in fourth-quarter activity due to investigations of foreclosure procedures, new data show.
According to RealtyTrac, the online marketplace for foreclosure properties, 45,555 homes became bank-owned last year in the area between the Wisconsin border and northwest Indiana.
Also during the year, mortgage servicers filed 83,429 initial notices of default, the first step in the foreclosure process.
In the Chicago area last year, foreclosure filings totaled 80,618 in Cook County; 10,646 in DuPage; 9,041 in Kane; 2,612 in Kendall; 11,026 in Lake; 5,385 in McHenry; and 11,027 in Will. Get the full story »
Oct. 25, 2010 at 8:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area dropped again in September, falling more than 20 percent in the Chicago area from a year ago and more than 25 percent within the city of Chicago, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Monday. Get the full story »
Oct. 15, 2010 at 10:38 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Real estate
By Reuters
Bank shares declined Friday morning in a broad industry sell-off, as investors continued to fear the impact the continuing foreclosure crisis will have on future earnings. Get the full story »
Aug. 24, 2010 at 8:20 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area nosedived 25.1 percent in July, partly due to the end of a government tax credit program that had propped up the housing market for more than a year.
The anemic results caused 12 months of consecutive year-over-year sales volume gains for the local market to come to a screeching halt last month, according to data released Tuesday by the Illinois Association of Realtors. It was the worst July performance for the local real estate market since at least 2000 when the trade group began tracking home sales.
Many real estate agents, while pleased with the local market’s still-positive first-half performance, are beginning to think their year is peaked, despite mortgage interest rates that are consistently falling to new weekly record lows. Get the full story »
July 1, 2010 at 11:27 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Chicago-area real estate agents sensed a fall-off in homebuyer traffic last month, and on Thursday, they were validated: Sales contracts on home purchases plunged 32.1 percent in the Midwest and 30 percent nationally in May.
The index of pending home sales, measured by the National Association of Realtors, fell to 77.6 nationally in May from April, far worse than expected. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted a drop of 11.3 percent from April, to a reading of 98.4. For the Midwest, the index dropped to 70.8, which is a drop of 32.1 percent from April and down 20.2 percent from a year ago.
A reading of 100 is equivalent to 2001’s average level of sales activity. Get the full story »
June 22, 2010 at 9:13 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Tribune staff report
The market for existing homes in the Chicago area racked up an eleventh consecutive month of improvement in May, with year-over-year home sales rising 33.6 percent to 7,580 single-family homes and condominiums sold during the month.
Meanwhile, home sales within the city of Chicago rose 32.1 percent to 2,057 sales in what was a ninth consecutive month of better sales, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Get the full story »
June 9, 2010 at 11:00 p.m.
Filed under:
