October ‘Bad Month’ for Notice of Default Filings in County
1996 Foreclosure Record To Be Broken for 2007
By MICHELLE MOWAD
San Diego Business Journal Staff
Economists and researchers in San Diego are closely charting a rise in both notices of default and foreclosures, which reached a 25-year high this year, according to county records.
Mount Pleasant, Pa.-based Default Research Inc. reported San Diego County led the state with 3,427 notices of default and foreclosure in October, up 400 percent from a month earlier.
The county had just 690 foreclosure filings in October 2006.
Default Research conducts research in eight states, including 23 markets in California.
“Right now Southern California is the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis,” said Serbar Bankaci, president and chief executive officer of Default Research in its October foreclosure report. “Out of the five largest counties in the state, San Diego is hardest hit, followed by Riverside and Los Angeles.”
Los Angeles had 6,832 filings and Riverside had 4,373 foreclosure filings in October 2007, said Default Research.
A Bad Month
Bankaci said while October was a bad month for California, especially San Diego, the coming months could get worse. He said a large number of three-year adjustable rate mortgages are due to reset in the first and second quarters of 2008, which could result in a large increase in foreclosure filings.
“California had some of the most expensive real estate in the country and many people bought homes they couldn’t afford with teaser loans,” he said. “Those families who lived beyond their means are going to go from boom to bust and, unfortunately, join a growing number of Americans in foreclosure.”
The median single-family detached home sales price in San Diego County was $531,000 in October, according to San Diego Association of Realtors data. The median single-family attached home was $340,000.
Discovery Bay-based ForeclosureRadar reported foreclosure filings, including notices of default, foreclosures and properties sold at auction, increased 17 percent in October over September, and 319 percent from October 2006 in San Diego.
ForeclosureRadar founder Sean O’Toole said he sees no sign of a peak, and does not expect to see a high in foreclosure filings until the third or fourth quarter of 2008.
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