More and more houses in tony areas suffer from foreclosures

The pace of foreclosure filings quickened in some affluent suburbs between July and September, while slowing in towns that were caught up early in the home mortgage crisis.

According to the latest figures from the Woodstock Institute, foreclosure filings were up by more than 50 percent in some well-off suburbs during the third quarter, as the mortgage crisis continued to shift to middle- and higher-income communities.

"There are simply fewer and fewer mortgages to foreclose on in lower-wealth communities," said Geoff Smith, vice president of the Woodstock Institute.

View Steep foreclosure rise in some Chicago suburbs in a larger map

While Glenview and Highland Park bucked a trend during the first half of 2009 with a small dip in foreclosures, both communities were hard hit between July and September. Glenview was up 78 percent and Highland Park was up 97 percent, compared with the same period last year. So far this year, lenders have initiated foreclosure on 117 home mortgages in Highland Park, just a few shy of the 121 filings during all of 2008.

The same dynamic was seen in Park Ridge, which saw an 85 percent increase during the third quarter. Foreclosure filings so far in Park Ridge, 137, are only a few short of the 140 tallied in 2008.

Throughout the north suburbs, foreclosure filings rose 32 percent in the third quarter. A similar pattern was found in the northwest suburbs, where filings were up 28 percent.

Meanwhile, the west suburbs of Cook County showed only negligible increases. In Oak Park, foreclosures for July through September were up 6 percent, compared with the same period last year. So far in 2009, there were 136; for all of 2008, there were 205 foreclosures.

In some communities, such as Wilmette and Skokie, filings so far this year already have eclipsed 2008 figures. In Wilmette, a triple-digit rate increase in the third quarter pushed the number to 62, well above the 43 foreclosures during all of 2008.

While the pace has slowed a bit in Skokie, the 358 filings through September of this year already top the 2008 figure of 346.

Both Evanston and Melrose Park saw decreases in new foreclosures during the third quarter.

Woodstock analysts say new laws giving homeowners more time and resources to examine their options might have pushed off some foreclosures that otherwise would have happened in the spring.

In early April, Gov. Quinn signed an amendment to the Illinois foreclosure law that requires lenders to notify delinquent borrowers of their right to seek counseling from a HUD-certified counselor. At the same time, a new federal program created incentives for mortgage servicers and investors to modify the loan terms so borrowers have a reasonable chance of making their monthly payments.

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