DataQuick: Foreclosures in San Diego County fall to lowest level since '07
By Lily Leung
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 12:40 p.m.
/ Union-Tribune staff
Foreclosures and defaults have dropped to their lowest levels in San Diego County since November 2007, according to the latest figures from DataQuick Information Systems.
Click to enlarge.
Reaction from experts
- Michael Lea, director of the real estate center at San Diego State University: The fact that defaults are falling is good news. On the dip in foreclosures, "I wouldn't read much into that...there's been a slowdown in foreclosure actions by a lot of the lenders..."
- Bob Kevane, president of the San Diego Association of Realtors: He expects to see a steady stream of both foreclosures and defaults this year, and a flattening of median home prices.
- Andrew LePage, DataQuick analyst: It looks like San Diego and the rest of California have moved past the bulk of "the most egregious subprime and other risky loans from the boom period" and may see more stability this year.
Foreclosures and mortgage defaults in San Diego County fell to their lowest levels in three years, but industry experts say it may be too early to rejoice.
Foreclosures decreased from 13,978 in 2009 to 11,976 in 2010, a 14 percent drop, show figures from DataQuick Information Systems on Tuesday. Defaults, the first step in the foreclosure process, followed the same trend. They dipped from 35,215 in 2009 to 22,414 in 2010, or 36.4 percent. (Read the company's statewide overview here.)
The reason for the drops remains murky, but experts chalk up the decreases to an improving economy, a shadow inventory of distressed homes and an increase in short sales.
“On the foreclosure decrease, I wouldn’t read much into that,” said Michael Lea, director of the real-estate center at San Diego State University. “There’s been a general slowdown in foreclosure actions by a lot of the lenders, so there’s uncertainty of what’s out there.”
Most real estate experts agree San Diego County will see another wave of foreclosures this year, some even saying that 2011’s tally will eclipse last year’s.
Lenders who held onto bad loans to lessen their losses and revise questionable procedures are expected to release those loans, leading to an increase in default notices and foreclosures, Lea said. Questionable practices included banks employing robo-signers, who signed off on loan paperwork without proper review.
When this surfaced, the country’s largest banks froze foreclosure activity to improve standards.
While it appears that most of these questionable practices occurred outside of California, Bank of America on Tuesday said during the halt on foreclosures in the fall, it stopped delivering default notices as well here.
“I would think that would account for the majority of the decrease,” said Bob Kevane, president of the San Diego Association of Realtors. “I don’t see those kind of decreases in the next quarters.”
Kevane expects more foreclosure and short-sale activity this year as the robo-signing mess is straightened out and banks clean out their distressed inventory.
DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said the state, including San Diego County, has likely surpassed “the most egregious” phase of subprime and other risky loans,” but agrees that more foreclosures are coming as lenders work through their long backlogs. LePage added that San Diego may see an increase this year in short sales, less expensive alternatives to foreclosures.
Looking at the monthly figures, San Diego County foreclosures and defaults fell during three consecutive month-over-month periods.
In December, 715 homes were foreclosed on, down 1.1 percent from November.
That's the lowest level since November 2007, when there were 478 foreclosures.
Defaults totaled 1,522 in December, down 8.3 percent from November. That figure is the lowest it's been since November 2007, as well.
Lily Leung: (619)293-1719; lily.leung@uniontrib.com; Twitter @LilyShumLeung
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Thursday, January 27, 2011
Is the foreclosure market in San Diego really dropping? What do you think will happen
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Great news if you're working the Real Estate Market in Carlsbad, San Marcos and San Diego.
San Diego Real Estate Market Tops List
January 3rd, 2011 Categories: Carlsbad, Market Trends
Carlsbad, CA–Home buyers often ask, “Where do you think the San Diego real estate market is headed in the next few years?” Our real estate license doesn’t come equipped with a crystal ball, but we have anecdotal indications that the market has bottomed and now DS News.com reports that the San Diego, Carlsbad and the San Marcos metro areas may comprise the strongest real estate market in the country.
The five strongest real estate markets projected for 2011, according to DSNews and subscription-based Veros Real Estate Solutions, are:
- San Diego / Carlsbad / San Marcos, CA 3.5%
- Kennewick / Richland / Pasco, WA 3.4%
- Pittsburgh, PA 2.7%
- Fargo, ND-MN 2.6%
- Washington / Arlington / Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 2.5%
There are generally good projections for real estate markets in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota (oil), South Dakota and Iowa–with signs of strength spreading to areas of the Midwest.
Still in the tank, but less so than last year, are several real estate markets in Florida (including Orlando, Daytona Beach and Port St. Lucie), as well as Reno, Nevada and Boise, Idaho. In these areas, further price depreciation from -6.3 to -7.2 percent is projected. As bad as that may seem, it beats prior double digit decreases in home prices.
It appears our economy in on the mend and it’s great to see San Diego, Carlsbad and San Marcos lead the country in projected 2011 real estate appreciation. And our anecdotal observation confirm this projection: Our phones are ringing with inquiries about homes for sale in San Diego–and many are coming from out-of-area buyers who have decided to follow their dream of moving to one of our coastal communities.
Special thanks to Denver real estate expert Kristal Kraft, who forwarded this information to me earlier today.
This entry was posted on Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Carlsbad, Market Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
Great news if you're working the Real Estate Market in Carlsbad, San Marcos and San Diego.
San Diego Real Estate Market Tops List
January 3rd, 2011 Categories: Carlsbad, Market Trends
Carlsbad, CA–Home buyers often ask, “Where do you think the San Diego real estate market is headed in the next few years?” Our real estate license doesn’t come equipped with a crystal ball, but we have anecdotal indications that the market has bottomed and now DS News.com reports that the San Diego, Carlsbad and the San Marcos metro areas may comprise the strongest real estate market in the country.
The five strongest real estate markets projected for 2011, according to DSNews and subscription-based Veros Real Estate Solutions, are:
- San Diego / Carlsbad / San Marcos, CA 3.5%
- Kennewick / Richland / Pasco, WA 3.4%
- Pittsburgh, PA 2.7%
- Fargo, ND-MN 2.6%
- Washington / Arlington / Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 2.5%
There are generally good projections for real estate markets in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota (oil), South Dakota and Iowa–with signs of strength spreading to areas of the Midwest.
Still in the tank, but less so than last year, are several real estate markets in Florida (including Orlando, Daytona Beach and Port St. Lucie), as well as Reno, Nevada and Boise, Idaho. In these areas, further price depreciation from -6.3 to -7.2 percent is projected. As bad as that may seem, it beats prior double digit decreases in home prices.
It appears our economy in on the mend and it’s great to see San Diego, Carlsbad and San Marcos lead the country in projected 2011 real estate appreciation. And our anecdotal observation confirm this projection: Our phones are ringing with inquiries about homes for sale in San Diego–and many are coming from out-of-area buyers who have decided to follow their dream of moving to one of our coastal communities.
Special thanks to Denver real estate expert Kristal Kraft, who forwarded this information to me earlier today.
This entry was posted on Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Carlsbad, Market Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply