COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Foreclosures Zoom: The number of foreclosures on residential and commercial real estate properties in Orange County nearly doubled in the first quarter.

Lenders took possession of 1,198 properties, nearly double the 602 properties seized in the same period a year earlier, according to TRW REDI Property Data. Debtors owed $323.8 million on the properties, up 47% from $220 million. While the numbers reflect an increase in troubled properties because of the poor economy, banks also are being tougher when a debtor attempts to refinance a loan.

“Banks are taking the properties back and just unloading them,” said Mark C. Coleman, partner with Deloitte & Touche Real Estate Services in Santa Ana. “They want to have it over and done with. If it is easiest to foreclose, they will do it.”