Haunted Houses

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There are houses that are really scary. Not because of the ghosts, monsters or other surreal creatures. The reason for fear is very real - foreclosures. There are entire streets that have only half of houses still occupied, other owners have either left voluntarily or have been kicked out of their homes. They left behind overgrown yards, leaky roofs and boarded up windows. Some of them even left behind their belongings as if they were expecting ghosts to use them at Halloween...

Learn more about Chicago suburbs foreclosures at my website: www.ChicagoSuburbs-Homes.com.

Nationwide Home Prieces on the Rise

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The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of the largest U.S. metro areas was released today. The index shows another slight increase (1%) of home prices in August 2009, compared to the month before. Still, the median home price in the U.S. is 11.4% down from August 2008.

In Chicago metro area, home prices in August were 1.7% higher than in August and 4.4% higher than in July 2009.

Some experts signal though that the mounting pressure from the distressed homes market, particularly Chicago foreclosures (also, foreclosures in Chicago suburbs), will soon drive the prices back down, or at least make them flat for another 6-10 months.

Illinois Unemployment Data

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High unemployment we experience in Illinois contributes directly to the high rate of foreclosures in Cook County and most of Chicago suburbs. Not all counties were affected by unemployment (and foreclosures) the same way. Please take a look at the map that is published as per US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unemployment in the entire state of Illinois was 10.5% in September 2009 but certain counties, located outside of Chicago area, were well above the 12% rate.

Uneployment Rate in Cook County continues to decline

The jobless rate in the entire U.S. seems to be flat but locally we can observe a very positive trend, especially in large metropolitan areas like Chicago. Cook County, Illinois saw a 1.5% drop in unemployment between June 2009 and September 2009.

The graph above shows a sharp rise in unemployment rate from May 2008 to June 2009 follow by equally significant decline in the 3 months that followed. Still, Cook County, Illinois has the jobless rate almost half percent higher than the average for all of the United States.