California foreclosures soar

MT. PLEASANT, PA.
September 26, 2007 12:46pm

California foreclosure filings were up a dramatic 300 percent in August, compared to the same time last year, according to Default Research Inc., a Mt. Pleasant, Pa., foreclosure information company.

Many counties in the Central Valley would take a 300 percent increase and call it a blessing, based on Default’s report Wednesday.

San Joaquin County, an epicenter of subprime foreclosures in the West, reported 873 default notices filed in August. A year earlier, the number was zero, Default Research says.

Sacramento County, which had reported a single notice of default in August 2006, reported 1,992 filings last month.

Other Central Valley counties tracked by Default Research:

Fresno County saw 695 foreclosure notices in August, compared to 240 in August 2006.

Kern County reported 911 foreclosure notices last month, compared to 238 a year earlier.

Tulare County had 249 filings in August. In August of last year just 26 notices of default were filed.

Stanislaus County, which had 138 default filings in August 2006, had 422 last month.

According to Default Research, Los Angeles County led the state with 6,040 foreclosure filings, which is up 2,047 from August 2006. Riverside and San Bernardino followed L.A with 3,780 and 2,058 foreclosures respectively.

“Unfortunately, much of California, like most of the United States, can’t avoid the foreclosure problems that were caused by the housing boom from 2001-2005,” says Serdar Bankaci, president and CEO of Default Research Inc.

“Using the National Association of Realtors dependable statistics, we can expect existing-home sales to continue to decline up and down the California coast in the coming months as mortgage disruptions work their way through the housing market,” he says. Combining the increasing home inventories with the continued ARM adjustments, it looks as if the problems in California will not be going away anytime soon.”