More L.A. County foreclosures on the way

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Los Angeles, get ready for another wave of foreclosures.

First American CoreLogic, which has a vast store of data on actual mortgages, reports today that Los Angeles County mortgages delinquent by 90 days or more in March were up to 8.9% of the total -- more than double the percentage of March last year.

Foreclosure filings, the next step in the foreclosure process, were issued on 2.3% of L.A. County mortgages in March, up from 1.9% in March 2008.

Repossessions, the final step in foreclosure, which results in a property being taken by the lender, were done on 1.6% of L.A. County mortgages in March, up from 1.2% in March 2008.

In recent months, the spike in default notices has not been matched by a proportionate number of foreclosure filings and repossessions. We don’t know if lenders are simply too swamped to process the defaulting loans or if there is a deliberate effort to control the pace of foreclosed homes hitting the market.

First American CoreLogic notes, however, that a 12-month look shows foreclosure filings have ramped up. From April 2008 through March 2009, L.A. County averaged 412 foreclosure filings a day, compared with 228 a day during the previous 12-month period.

— Peter Y. Hong