Update: About those foreclosure figures...

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Clearly, a number of you disagreed with the way we reported today’s batch of foreclosure numbers from RealtyTrac. To refresh, we led with the fact that California foreclosure filings were flat from June to July, and not with the fact that they are running 289% ahead of year-ago levels.

To which commenter Tim K. observed, ‘Talk about spinning the stats. It’s the *rate*, not the direction.

I’m heading towards this brick wall at 60 mph. But hey, in the last 5 seconds my speed is STILL 60 mph! Whew, I thought for a minute I was accelerating! All is well! :)

A fair point, well made.

By way of explanation: We are pessimistic about this trend; we expect the number to rise month-to-month as more of the toxic loans made in 2005 and 2006 hit that magic 25th month and reset to higher rates. So we felt it newsworthy that the spike -- which we may be wrong about -- has not yet begun. Here are the numbers from RealyTrac of foreclosure filings by month:

Month California filings LA filings
July 06 10,025 2,079
Aug 06 12,486 2,106
Sep 06 14,806 3,675
Oct 06 16,098 2,557
Nov 06 19,248 4,493
Dec 06 12,623 3,281
Jan 07 25,961 5,032
Feb 07 23,200 3,958
Mar 07 31,434 5,155
Apr 07 30,505 5,690
May 07 39,659 9,329
June 07 38,801 9.035
July 07 39,013 9,407

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