Defaults Show Signs of Leveling

Percent of foreclosures that result in home loss continues to worsen

Discovery Bay, CA, July 15, 2008 ForeclosureRadar, the only website that tracks every California foreclosure with daily auction updates; today issued its California Foreclosure Report. Noted in the report was a minor decrease in the number of homeowners entering the foreclosure process. This marked the fourth month new Notices of Default remained essentially level. Since foreclosure sales can be postponed up to one year in California, the percentage of defaults that result in home loss takes time to determine. Looking back one year to defaults filed in June 2007, 60 percent of those defaults resulted in the property being sold at foreclosure auction. Since that time default filings have increased 88.8 percent, while properties sold at auction have increased 248 percent. The difference between these increases speaks clearly to the issue that for most homeowners there is no way out, and while defaults may be stabilizing, the impact on homeowners and lenders continues to worsen.

High-level findings include:

  • Notices of Default declined for the second month, though by just 2 percent, to a total of 42,151 filings. This represents $16.95 Billion in loans.

  • Notices of Trustee Sale, which follow the notice of default by an average 105 days and set the date and time of the foreclosure auction, rose again to 35,544 filings, an increase of 2.8 percent over last month's record.

  • Sales at auction decreased 4.8 percent, despite past increases in notices of trustee sale, to a total of 24,286 properties with a combined loan balance of $10.25 Billion. Of those, 23,526 received no bid higher than the lenders' opening bid and became bank owned (REO).

  • Sales to 3rd parties at auction continued to increase, and were up 9.8 percent from the prior month. 3rd Party purchases, which must be paid in full at the time of auction, exceeded $180 Million. The percent of properties returned to the lender decreased to 96.8%, the lowest it has been since last October.

"Price declines and negative equity continue to drive foreclosures, leaving homeowners upside down and with few options if they need to sell." said Sean O'Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar. "The continued failure of lenders to approve short sales on a timely basis is leading to greater losses for both the homeowner and the foreclosing lender, decreasing transaction volumes for Realtors, lenders and title companies (which directly impacts the California economy), and is littering neighborhoods with vacant, unkempt and vandalized homes. Providing timely responses to short sale offers should be the number one priority for every lender and legislator, yet California's latest foreclosure law completely failed on this front."

Discounts offered by lenders at auction increased again. In June 2008, the average opening bid was 31 percent below the amount owed on the loan in foreclosure. 87 percent of opening bids were discounted, with nearly 1 in 4 discounted by 50 percent or more. Opening bid discounts exceeded 40 percent, on average, in Merced, Monterey, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties continued to lead the state in absolute volume of foreclosures due to their large size; yet each county also recorded declines in foreclosure sales month-overmonth of 10, 10 and 11 percent respectively, which accounted for much of the overall decline in June. San Joaquin, Merced and Stanislaus all saw modest increases and had the highest foreclosure rates in the state after adjusting for population.

June 08 Foreclosure Report

ForeclosureRadar June Report by County
Rank Change In Rank County NDF NTS Sales Population
Per Sale
% Change
May 2008
% Change
June 2007
1 2 San Joaquin 1396 1508 1236 539 5% 329%
2 -0 Merced 625 560 439 562 2% 416%
3 1 Stanislaus 1169 1072 857 600 5% 318%
4 -3 Riverside 5109 4619 3213 608 -10% 200%
5 3 Yuba 127 125 91 767 6% 203%
6 1 Sacramento 2521 2262 1728 802 0% 182%
7 3 Solano 831 672 513 824 6% 298%
8 -3 San Bernardino 4280 3451 2346 849 -11% 286%
9 -3 San Benito 89 91 61 945 -20% 239%
10 1 Contra Costa 1743 1463 1087 947 -5% 224%
11 -2 Madera 220 132 147 982 -14% 568%
12 0 Kern 1258 1024 793 983 -1% 236%
13 2 Monterey 616 563 411 1,034 33% 463%
14 -1 Sutter 141 107 85 1,076 12% 166%
15 43 Alpine 1 0 1 1,241 0% NA
16 -2 Placer 392 344 249 1,271 0% 251%
17 3 Calaveras 63 39 29 1,576 -22% 1350%
18 0 Fresno 965 776 565 1,592 1% 242%
19 -3 Sonoma 434 410 299 1,605 -9% 390%
20 -3 San Diego 3158 2784 1856 1,652 -6% 183%
21 7 Napa 150 104 80 1,681 23% 627%
22 5 Imperial 240 206 99 1,683 -19% 209%
23 2 Yolo 194 173 109 1,746 12% 195%
24 0 El Dorado 196 121 94 1,875 3% 154%
25 -3 Ventura 806 680 429 1,905 -3% 325%
26 4 Tulare 410 288 203 1,072 5% 269%
27 -8 Lake 1 0 30 2,137 -49% 50%
28 -2 Alameda 1507 1115 697 2,154 -9% 202%
29 -6 Amador 36 28 17 2,243 -15% 240%
30 1 Santa Barbara 325 245 185 2,279 -2% 249%
31 8 Nevada 87 65 40 2,502 33% 233%
32 4 Butte 76 88 85 2,555 13% 270%
33 -12 Tehama 1 0 24 2,564 -43% 140%
34 -2 Orange 2258 1979 1168 2,630 -12% 274%
35 -2 Los Angeles 8115 6496 3837 2,670 -10% 264%
36 1 Santa Cruz 193 124 95 2,762 12% 352%
37 18 Glenn 11 13 10 3,865 NA% 900%
38 -9 Colusa 1 0 7 3,073 -30% 133%
39 1 San Luis Obispo 212 132 85 3,097 15% 174%
40 -6 Santa Clara 1218 953 568 3,122 -16% 498%
41 -6 Shasta 146 95 58 3,129 -12% 100%
42 8 Plumas 4 4 6 3,574 200% 50%
43 -2 Tuolumne 49 26 16 3,639 0% 220%
44 1 San Mateo 343 227 165 4,389 39% 416%
45 6 Mono 1 0 3 4,532 50% NA
46 0 Siskiyou 22 27 10 4,615 43% 900%
47 -9 Kings 87 69 29 5,094 -37% 190%
48 -6 Mendocino 37 21 15 6,030 -17% 200%
49 -6 Marin 99 94 39 6,496 -24% 550%
50 -3 Trinity 1 4 2 7,012 0% 100%
51 2 Humboldt 35 29 16 8,283 100% 167%
52 -8 Mariposa 7 2 2 9,108 -50% -33%
53 -1 San Francisco 131 125 63 12,677 17% 163%
54 0 Lassen 1 0 2 17,726 -33% 100%
55 -7 Del Norte 10 7 1 29,196 -75% 0%

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CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURE REPORT METHODOLOGY
Rankings are based on population per foreclosure sale. NDF indicates the number of Notices of Default that were filed at the county, and NTS indicates filed Notices of Trustee Sale. Sales indicates the number of properties sold at foreclosure auction. Percentage changes are based on monthly Sales. The data presented by ForeclosureRadar is based on county records and individual sales results from daily foreclosure auctions throughout the state—not estimates or projections.

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