California Foreclosures Down

February 12, 2001

La Jolla, CA.--The number of California homes going into foreclosure continued to decline last quarter, the result of increased demand for housing and steadily rising home values, a real estate information service reported.

Lending institutions started foreclosure proceedings on 20,668 homeowners during the October-to-December period. That was down 1.6 percent from 21,006 for the prior quarter, and down 16.8 percent from 24,841 for fourth-quarter 1999, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The numbers have been in decline on a year-over-year basis since early 1997. Last quarter's number was the lowest since first-quarter 1992 when 18,806 default notices were recorded. The all-time high occurred during first-quarter 1996 when 44,665 defaults were recorded. A Notice of Default is the first step of the formal foreclosure process.

"If you can sell your home and walk away with some money, it doesn't make sense to let it go back to the bank. With home values going up the way they are, fewer and fewer homeowners owe more on their home than it's worth," said Mike Ela, DataQuick's president.

The median price paid for a home in 2000 was $209,000, up 13 percent from $185,000 in 1999, which was up 7.2 percent from $172,500 in 1998.

DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Bay Area foreclosure activity during the fourth quarter was down 27.1 percent from fourth-quarter 1999, the steepest regional decline. Southern California's foreclosure activity was down 14.0 percent and in the Central Valley it was down 16.8 percent.

Tulare, San Bernardino and Fresno counties had the highest relative foreclosure rates, while Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties had the lowest, DataQuick reported.

Thirty-four percent of the homeowners who receive a Notice of Default are able to get out of the foreclosure process, either by bringing their mortgage payments current, or by selling the home and paying the home loan off.

In addition to the decline in foreclosures, there is unremarkable activity among other market stress indicators including loan-to-value ratios, seller financing and other unconventional financing usage, shifts in market mix, turnover rates and non-owner occupancy rates, DataQuick reported.

Numbers are available for individual counties.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

For more information call John Karevoll (909)867-9534

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