A new report suggests Illinois’ rate of home foreclosure fell 3.5 percent between June and July. The RealtyTrac Group said the foreclosure rate is now almost 50 percent lower than last year. 

But there’s still some bad housing news: a report from the Illinois Association of Realtors said that home prices are actually down 18 percent. 

“The thing that we have continued to be fighting over the last several years is consumer confidence…And it was shaken by our budget talks,” said Sheryl Grider Whitehurst, president of the IAR.

“So we need to get some stability out there in those marketplaces for people to feel comfortable again to move ahead with other major purchases,” Whitehurst continued. “I know we personally had one buyer who backed out of looking at a home because she did receive Social Security checks and she said, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to receive my checks.‘”

Whitehurst says it’s best to compare this year’s housing market with figures from 2009, not 2010, because buyers in 2010 benefited from a tax credit. The IAR predicts housing prices in the Chicago region will catch up with their 2010 levels in September.