The Foreclosure Report

California Defaults Up

Annette Haddad at the LA Times has this on the California market. "The number of default notices sent to California households rose during the third quarter for the first time in more than three years, the result of lower appreciation rates and riskier loans. In what analysts said was another sign of a peaking housing market, lending institutions sent default notices to 12,568 California homeowners during the third quarter, a 3.5% increase from the year-ago period."

"The last time default notices increased was during the first quarter of 2002."

"The bulk of the defaults were sent to addresses in Southern California, where the torrid rate of appreciation has been slowing for much of the year. The region saw a 20% jump in default activity on a year-over-year basis. The Bay Area saw a 13% decline. Northern California is seeing home values rise at a faster pace than in the south now, John Karevoll said."

"Typically, only about 10% of homeowners who find themselves in the default process actually lose their homes to foreclosure."

posted by Ben Jones @ 7:03 AM