Foreclosures in Chicago suburbs nearly double in past year

One in every 1,100 homes in Illinois is in bank-owned foreclosure.

The number of bank-owned homes from foreclosures in the Chicago suburbs has nearly doubled in the past year. This troubling trend comes as property taxes continue to soar.

Based on data from Realtytrac.com, Illinois’ northeast corridor has seen bank-owned homes rise to 2,379 in the last three months compared with little more than 1,245 homes in the same period of 2015. The county with the highest foreclosure rate in the region is McHenry, which is seeing protests against its exorbitant property taxes, including residents paying their property tax bills in $1 bills. The northern Illinois county has one foreclosure for every 642 properties.

State Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, is a Realtor who said property taxes are shying people away from homeownership.

“The high property taxes hit people without jobs hard, but they hit Illinoisans especially hard since they’re so exorbitant,” Batinick said.

Batinick said high property taxes hurt businesses by making it more difficult to afford hiring new workers.

“When things get slow for them, they still have the high property tax bill,” Batinick said. “These businesses are moving to places like Indiana and taking homeowners with them.”

The worst county for foreclosures outside of Chicagoland is Mason County. The largely rural county along the Illinois River between Peoria and Springfield has one foreclosure for every 880 homes.

Realthytrac said approximately one in every 1,100 homes in Illinois is in bank-owned foreclosure.