WHICH CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOODS SHOW HIGH FORECLOSURE RATE INCREASES?
THE NUMBERS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU!
Mortgage foreclosures, it appears, are not limited to the historically less affluent neighborhoods in the City of Chicago. Many very affluent North and Northwest Side Chicago neighborhoods are feeling the foreclosure sting as well - according to a front-page story in today's Chicago Sun-Times, by reporter Art Golab.
Chicago IL Neighborhoods Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Portage Park, Logan Square, West Ridge, and Irving Park have each experienced triple-digit increases in home foreclosures since last year. In prestigious Lincoln Park alone, according to data just released by the National Training and Information Center, 37 homes went into foreclosure this year, compared to 18 in 2006 - an increase of over 105%. Bungalow-rich Portage Park, on Chicago's Northwest Side, near Irving Park Road between Cicero and Austin Avenues, the increase in foreclosures was a whopping 193.8% - from 32 properties under foreclosure in 2006, to 94 foreclosures this year.
To be sure, many of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods had the greatest number of foreclosures per square mile. The neighborhood with that dubious ranking was West Englewood, on the South Side, which has had 348 foreclosures in 2007, up from 220 in 2006. That translates to 111.2 foreclosures per square mile - the worst of any Chicago neighborhood. The percentage increase, year to year, however, was 58% - a very sizable increase, but far from the percentage leader for foreclosure volume, Portage Park.
Jeff Metcalf, the President and CEO of NTIC, blames liberal lending policies for the uptick. "You had a lot of upper-income people taking advantage of the low rate adjustable rate mortgages, interest only loans and other programs that were available in order to move up, to get an extra two or tree bedrooms," said Metcalf. "And when the job loss, economic slowdown, or declining home values hits, it hits all spectrums rich and poor.”
Foreclosures often result in vacant, boarded up houses wherever they occur. These attract vandals, squatters, and thieves looking to make a profit by stealing fixtures and trim from inside the homes.
Legislation being considered in Washington hopes to curb foreclosures by freezing loan rate resets on certain high-rate adjustable loans. Many of these were offered by so-called "sub-prime" lenders as recently as earlier this year. See our BlogChicagoHomes.com posting dated November 20, 2007 for more information on this proposed legislation, and a link to an article in last Friday's Wall Street Journal discussing the proposal.
Latest statistics indicate the number of foreclosures throughout the City of Chicago increased 40% in the First Half, 2007, versus the same period in 2006. To view the Chicago Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood foreclosure statistics used for this posting, click here for the link in the Online Chicago Sun-Times.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
