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Foreclosures Down, But Housing Market Isn't Recovering

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Home foreclosures in Illinois and nationally dropped nearly 30 percent in the first half of this year.

But as WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, the experts say it's not because of an improving housing market.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports

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The RealtyTrac numbers show that in Illinois, foreclosure activity plummeted 29 percent, compared with last year.

"The state ranked 10th in the nation in terms of overall foreclosure activity," said RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga. "About 61,000 Illinois households received a foreclosure notice during that period of times; a little more than 1 percent of all homes."

Sharga attributes most of that drop to continuing delays in processing foreclosures because of last year's robo-signing scandal. And he says it's slowing down the housing recovery.

"These delays could push out that recovery to 2015, or even 2016," he said.

For the month of June, foreclosure activity in Illinois was up 4 percent compared with May but, down 25 percent from a year earlier.

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