Foreclosures Drop 31%, the Steepest Fall in Southland : County: A brighter employment picture contributes to decline in second quarter compared to last year, economists say.

Ventura County real estate foreclosures plunged 31% during the second quarter of this year, the sharpest decline in Southern California compared to the same period last year.

Statewide, foreclosures dropped by just 0.9% between April and June, and in Southern California they fell by 1.6%, according to TRW-REDI Property Data, a real estate information company.

In some regions, such as San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties, foreclosures increased by as much as 9% or more than 1,000 properties in each area compared to the second quarter of last year. Foreclosures in Los Angeles County fell 5.9%, from 7,140 to 6,718.

“Ventura County is doing a lot better than the rest of the counties,” TRW economist Nima Nattagh said.

Between April and June, 301 foreclosures were documented by lenders countywide, a drop of 136 compared to the second quarter of last year.

The drop is due in part to lower unemployment compared to a few years ago, and fewer people being laid off from high-paying jobs in aerospace and other industries, Nattagh said.

“What we have had is a situation where unemployment has stabilized,” Nattagh said, “and I think that is why foreclosures have stabilized as well.”

Real estate brokers and economists say the decline signals a gradual recovery from the economic slump that has gripped the region since 1991. “It shows that things are picking up,” said Mary Hall, president of the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors. “People are in a position where they are not going to have to walk away from a property.”

Fewer foreclosures is good news for realtors.

The high volume of foreclosures in recent years, including a record 1,654 last year, slowed business for realtors because banks were selling foreclosed properties at bottom-of-the-market prices.

“I am noticing an increase in activity,” Hall said. “The first half [of the year] was slow . . . but it seems like ever since the Fourth of July things have picked up.”

Foreclosures dropped in the first quarter of the year as well, but not as dramatically. At the end of the period, TRW reported 391 foreclosures, compared to 439 in the first quarter of last year.

TRW estimates that about 85% of foreclosures are residential properties.

Notices of default, the first step in the foreclosure process, also fell in the first quarter.

Between January and March, Dataquick Information Services reported that lenders started foreclosure proceedings on 579 residences--a 17% decline from 698 proceedings in the first quarter of last year.

“It is reflective of a financially robust economic performance in 1994,” Nattagh said, explaining that foreclosure statistics are indicators of the economic climate in the previous seven or eight months.

In the case of Ventura County, the last year “wasn’t a blockbuster,” Nattagh said. “But it was a good economic performance.”