Foreclosure Rates Soar in Metropolitan Chicago

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060525/cgth036.html?.v=53

CHICAGO, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by rising interest rates and high levels of debt, foreclosures on homes in the eight-county Chicago metropolitan area are sky-rocketing, particularly in the region's fastest-growing counties.

The soaring rate of foreclosures is quickly transforming what has long been a seller's market into a buyer's market.

"During the refinancing boom, people found themselves qualified for homes they might not have qualified for if the interest rates were higher," explains Jeff Metcalf, founder and CEO of Record Information Services Inc. (RIS), a suburban Chicago-based company specializing in marketing data collection. "Any movement up in the mortgage rates, particularly for those who used adjustable rate mortgages, is going to affect a lot of people."

Based on first-quarter figures, Metcalf believes the foreclosure rate for 2006 in the metropolitan area will increase by as much as 25%. The rate will be much higher in the fastest-growing collar counties.

"It's going to be more severe (than in 2005)," he says. "After so many years of good economic growth in the housing industry, the real estate market is slowing down."

...more...

get very bad....

I would look for an exponential increase in foreclosures, a harbinger of the economic storm about to happen. What would the perfect storm analogy be? Something like massive personal debt combined with massive national debt and inflated equity prices, colliding with rising interest rates. :scared: