Foreclosure Rates Vary Widely in the Bay Area

While foreclosure rates in the Bay Area remained largely unchanged from a year ago, there were big differences when looked at on the county level, according to a report from RealtyTrac.com. Alameda County saw a 17.4% decline in foreclosures and a 6.8% decline in notices of default from November of 2008. Contra Cost county, on the other hand, had a 41.2% increase in foreclosures and a 95.5% increase in notices of foreclosure.

From the Contra Costa Times:

Critics point out that more foreclosures are expected to hit the market in the coming months due to in part to the expected failure of many loan modifications. Also, rising unemployment levels and resetting adjustable-rate loans are also likely to push more homeowners into foreclosure.

“We know there are a lot of distressed properties out there that are eventually going to become (bank-owned properties). It’s just a question of how quickly that will happen,” said Blomquist. “Politically and from a lender perspective there is a huge effort to avoid a flood of foreclosures.”

Statewide, 73,995 homes were in some stage of foreclosure in November, a decrease of 13.4 percent from October, but 22.3 percent higher from a year ago. Nationwide, 306,627 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, a 7.7 percent decline from October, but 18.4 percent higher than a year ago.

We have seen our share of foreclosures in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon and the rest of the Tri Valley. The variability noted above from county to county can be extended further down to the city and even neighborhood levels, with different neighborhoods seeing varying degrees of foreclosure activity. I keep an eye on distressed properties (short sales and bank owned REO) in my ongoing posts regarding Tri Valley Neighborhoods.