DQNews Archived Article

California Foreclosures

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
April, 1999

La Jolla, CA.— Despite a minor surge of foreclosure activity in March, the number of California homeowners who are in the process of losing their homes is now at it's lowest level since 1992, a real estate information service reported.

Lending institutions started foreclosure proceedings on 26,694 homeowners during the first quarter of this year. That was down 1.6 percent from 27,137 for the prior quarter, and down 27.3 percent from 36,699 for last year's first quarter, according to DataQuick Products Division.

Last quarter's number was the lowest since first-quarter 1992 when 18,806 default notices were recorded. The all-time high occured during first-quarter 1996 when 44,665 defaults were recorded. A Notice of Default is the first step of the formal foreclosure process.

Default recordings did rise from 7,783 in February to 11,318 in March, which was the highest single month since April last year when 11,410 were recorded.

"The trend is downward. As strong as the real estate market is right now, it's unlikely that the March jump reflects any increase in homeowner distress. What's probably happening is that lending institutions are doing some spring cleaning of old delinquent loans," said Mike Ela, leader of DataQuick Products Division.

The most noticeable decreases in foreclosure activity occurred in Southern California, which had higher year-ago numbers to come down from. Bay Area numbers have been relatively low for several years. While Riverside and San Bernardino counties had the highest foreclosure rates last year, Tulare and San Joaquin counties now have slightly higher rates.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The effect of foreclosure activity on sales prices has declined significantly. While foreclosure homes tugged sales prices down by more than ten percent three years ago, the drag is currently less than three percent, and is isolated to just a few local markets, DataQuick reported.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 1999 DataQuick Information Systems.
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