Foreclosed home inventories in the Silicon Valley increased in April as lenders lifted their foreclosure moratoriums in the area, according to data from Discovery-based ForeclosureRadar, which tracks foreclosures in California.
Last month, there were 294 foreclosed homes in Santa Clara County, an increase of 19 percent from the previous month of March. The increase followed a significant decline in foreclosed home units in the February to March period.
In Santa Clara County, the highest number of monthly foreclosed homes occurred in August 2008, when there were 853 houses turned into foreclosed home units.
Sean O’Toole, founder and head of ForeclosureRadar, said the increase was caused by the lifting of foreclosure moratoriums that were requested by government officials in preparation for the Obama administration’s Making Affordable Program.
On the other hand, while foreclosed homes increased last month, the number of default notices filed in Santa Clara dropped to 1,352 notices, a decline of 13 percent from the peak figure of 1,556 the previous month of March.
Notices of default are the first warnings sent by lenders and they signal the first steps in the process of turning a property into a foreclosed home.
Santa Clara County was not alone in the foreclosure trend. The state of California also had 13,550 foreclosure filings in April, an increase of 35 percent from figures in March.
The monthly foreclosed home figures have been going up and down, making it difficult for analysts to determine whether recovery is near.
Dustin Hobbs, a spokesperson of the California Mortgage Bankers Association, said the movement of the numbers is not pointing to one direction. He cited the reality of many external factors affecting foreclosed home inventories. The California association represents around 200 loan servicing firms and lending companies.
Foreclosed home data would also be affected by the reactions of lenders to the revised California Foreclosure Prevention Act, which was signed into law in February by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The law would require mortgage lenders to provide a distressed borrower another 90 days after the default notice is given to give time to the borrower to prepare for moving before the notice of sale is sent. The additional time would help a devastated family find another place when their dwelling becomes a foreclosed home.
Another reason given by O’Toole and other analysts for the increase in defaults in March was the effort of mortgage lenders to complete their foreclosure processes before the foreclosure law begins to be implemented.
O’Toole said foreclosed home inventories will continue to increase at a pace of up to 15,000 units a month.
Search Foreclosed Homes in California Cities:
back to top
Comments on this entry are closed.