Foreclosure Sales Nearly Double from Prior Year

Discovery Bay, CA, April 13, 2010 - ForeclosureRadar (www.foreclosureradar.com), the only website that tracks every California foreclosure and provides daily auction updates, issued its monthly California Foreclosure Report for for March 2010. Foreclosure sales increased 92.3 percent from the prior year, when most major lenders had voluntary moratoriums in place while awaiting the implementation of the Administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Foreclosure sales increased 24.2 percent from February, with 79.2 percent of those going Back to Bank and the remainder Sold to 3rd Parties, primarily investors.

"Despite efforts to promote foreclosure alternatives like loan modifications and short sales, the simple reality is that there isn't a program for everyone" says Sean O'Toole, Founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.com. "Unravelling trillions in excess debt will take time, and foreclosure is part of the solution, not the problem."

Foreclosure Filings

Notice of Default filings dropped substantially in March from the prior year. Last year, filings reached record levels when lenders caught up on a backlog of filings after delays caused by new notice requirements introduced in California Senate Bill 1137.

Foreclosure Outcomes

3rd Party purchases at foreclosure sales hit a new record in March, crossing 4,000 properties for the first time with the combined purchases totaling more than $840 Million. The increase in cancellations appears to be primarily driven by filing errors, as evidenced by an early cancellation or by statutory requirement as evidenced by the sale being postponed beyond the maximum time allowed under law. Still more than half of the 16,513 cancellations occurred mid-foreclosure indicating a likely loan modification or short sale.

Foreclosure Inventories

Despite the increase in Notice of Default filings in February, our estimated number of properties in Preforeclosure dropped 8.0 percent due to the relatively high number of Notice of Trustee Sale filings. Properties exiting the foreclosure process nearly matched the number of new Notice of Trustee Sale filings, leaving the number of properties Scheduled for Sale in February flat compared to January. Year-over-year, the increase in properties Scheduled for Sale is a dramatic 126.3 percent, as more and more homeowners have found themselves on the brink of foreclosure. Banks continue to resell their Bank Owned (REO) property in a timely manner, with their inventories also flat from January to February.

Foreclosure Discounting

The courthouse steps remain highly competitive with discounts to market value dropping from 17.5 percent in January to 15.2 percent in February. Despite fewer foreclosure sales overall in February, as well as smaller discounts due to competitive bidding, 3rd party investors purchased more foreclosures, at 23.2 percent, than at any other time since we began tracking trustee sales in September 2006.

Foreclosure Timeframes

Foreclosure timeframes continued to increase slightly across the board, as banks continue to delay foreclosure, and slowing home sales increase Time to Resell. Time to Foreclose is likely to increase further in coming months, as the time to file a Notice of Trustee Sale has increased from 142 days to 188 days this month, a delay which will show up in the Time to Foreclose statistics as those properties are sold in coming months.

Foreclosure Activity By County