Last February, the volume of homes which entered the Illinois distressed property listings slowed down compared to last year’s figures. But despite this, experts still believe that the foreclosure crisis is not yet over and recovery is still far.

Foreclosure listings in Chicago as well as in other cities of Illinois include homes which received default, foreclosure auction and even repossession notices. In the entire state, there were 5,568 homeowners which were notified of their default, while 2,553 homes were about to be foreclosed and 1,471 houses were scheduled for auction.

In total, there were 9,592 foreclosure-related filings and notices
released for the said month. This figure is 27.13 percent lower compared to the number of homes in January’s distressed property listings and 44.59 percent fewer compared to the same month a year ago.

Nationwide, total number of foreclosure-related filings affected 225,101 homes, 14 percent and 27 percent less than January and February 2010 figures respectively. This is the biggest decline ever recorded since 2005, when the foreclosure crisis started.