Foreclosures soar, home sales drop

Cook County Foreclosure News

Two pieces of bad news for Chicago's housing market Wednesday:

• • Home sales in the Chicago metropolitan area dropped nearly 29 percent in the second quarter, and prices slipped more than 2 percent, the Illinois Association of Realtors said.

One in every 401 households in Cook County was in foreclosure, according to California-based RealtyTrac. In the Chicago metropolitan area, foreclosures spiked 51 percent to 7,041.

Will County saw a 10 percent decrease with 475 properties in foreclosure. But the numbers rose in DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall and McHenry counties.

Nationally, there were 272,171 homes in foreclosure, up 55 percent, with Nevada, California and Florida leading the way.

There were 20,679 single-family homes and condominiums sold in the Chicago metro area during the quarter, down 28.9 percent from the second quarter of 2007, the state Realtors group reported. The median sale price fell 2.3 percent to $250,000.

In Chicago, sales fell 28 percent, but the median price rose 5.1 percent to $310,000.

Statewide, sales fell 25.4 percent and the median price dropped 6.8 percent to $192,500.

"While sales certainly have picked up across Illinois during the early spring and summer months, some buyers and sellers seem to be waiting for the all-clear signal to make a move in this market as economic and consumer confidence indicators remain weak," said Kay Wirth, president of the association.

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