Foreclosure bumper crop for California in 2008
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California mortgage defaults and foreclosure sales shot up 131% in 2008 over the previous year, according to real estate data provider Default Research Inc. and reported by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
The jump accompanied steep home price declines. The latest statistics from MDA DataQuick put the statewide median home price paid at $258,000 in November, a 37.7% nosedive from $414,000 for November a year ago.
From Bloomberg:
The three California counties with the highest number of foreclosures were Los Angeles, with 122,408 last year, followed by Riverside, with 82,072, and San Bernardino, with 64,144, Default Research said.
Once again, Southern California leads the way.
So will 2009 foreclosures top 2008’s? Serdar Bankaci, founder of the Mt. Pleasant, Pa., foreclosure tracking firm, is quoted at Jon Lansner’s O.C. Register blog as saying they ‘expect to see foreclosure activity continue through the first two quarters of 2009’ but improving by the third quarter.
Seems optimistic to me. What about all those Alt-A and option ARMs that have yet to adjust?
-- Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
