County sees huge jump in homes nearing foreclosure
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The number of homes nearing foreclosure spiked here during the first quarter, indicating that banks may be finally working through their backlog of homes.
RealtyTrac Inc.’s figures, released Thursday, show there were 93 percent more notices of trustee sale than in the first quarter of 2009. This is one of the last stages in the foreclosure process before a bank repossesses a home.
“It’s possible that as banks are getting stronger and the economy is looking more solid, they’re more willing to take the potential hit to their balance sheets,” said Patrick S. Duffy from MetroIntelligence Real Estate Advisors.
Also, a variety of moratoriums in California expired at the end of September, and many of these foreclosures may have been delayed a few months.
Orange County had a bigger jump in the total number of homes in the foreclosure process, compared to the rest of California: there were 4 percent more homes here either foreclosed or nearing foreclosure, while California actually dropped by 6 percent during the first quarter.
In total, RealtyTrac says there were 12,841 homes in the foreclosure process during the first quarter, including 1,722 that were taken back by the bank.
The spike raises concern of a pending double-dip in the housing market, as some economists have predicted. The news comes just days after a positive report on the housing market here — March saw a 12.2 percent jump in the median priced home from 2009.
“Would a higher percentage of foreclosures impact housing prices in the county?” asked Duffy, “especially at a time when interest rates are rising? Certainly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the nation experienced its largest jump in foreclosures in five years. There were 35 percent more U.S. homes taken over by banks than in the first quarter of 2009.
Only a small portion of homeowners found salvage in the Obama administration’s $75 billion foreclosure prevention program. About 231,000 homeowners in the U.S. have completed loan modifications through March, just 21 percent of the 1.2 million borrowers who began the program over the past year.
If you have comments, news tips, questions or story ideas, contact Mike Reicher at mike.reicher(at)oclnn.com or call us at 714-966-4505.
Tags: banks, foreclosures, home prices, home sales, lending
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