California Foreclosures Up 24% From a Year Ago

The number of real estate foreclosures in California is up by more than 24% in the first half of this year compared to the same period one year ago, according to TRW REDI Property Data, a real estate information company.

TRW REDI reports that lenders repossessed more than 36,000 properties between January and June with a combined mortgage value of $ 7.6 billion.

While the foreclosure trend is still on the rise, TRW REDI’s analyst, Nima Nattagh, notes that the rate of increase has slowed significantly. In the state as a whole, foreclosures jumped by 74% between 1992 and 1993 in the January-June period and 24% between 1993 and 1994.

TRW REDI’s statistics also show that the southern metropolitan areas continue to fare worse than the other parts of the state. The Los Angeles-Anaheim metropolitan area now accounts for more than 80% of all foreclosures compared to less than half in 1989. In the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley region foreclosures increased by 12% and 16% respectively in the first six months of 1994 from last year’s level.

Southland Foreclosures

County Jan.-June, 1993 Jan.-June,1994 Change No. $(M) No. $(M) No. $(M) Los Angeles 10,806 3,041 13,746 3,299 27.2% 8.5% Orange 2,455 694 3,061 799 24.7% 15.1% Riverside 3,287 637 4,328 652 31.7% 2.4% San Bernardino 3,381 495 4,406 653 30.3% 31.9% San Diego 2,241 561 2,753 640 22.8% 14.0% Ventura 768 177 876 229 14.1% 29.0% S. California 22,938 5,605 29,170 6,271 27.2% 11.9%

Note: Foreclosures reflect the number of Trustee’s Deeds Upon Sale of which about 15% are non-residential properties.