January Foreclosure Statistics
The January foreclosure reports are out. We watch San Diego County and the State of California new filings, outcomes and inventory on a monthly basis. Here’s a quick summary of the January report:
Filings:
As we expected, on both the County and State level we saw a significant increase in the number of Notice of Default (NOD) filings in the month of January. Many of the lenders put a hold on NOD filings for the holidays (we saw the effect in the December stats) and had to play “catch up” in January. Comparing January 2011 to January 2012 gives us a more accurate idea of the current status of the market (the lenders put a similar hold on filings for the 2010 holidays). When comparing January 2011 to January 2012, the County showed an 11.22% decline in filings and the State showed a 23.19% decline in filings.
Year-over-year, both the County and State Notice-of-Trustee Sale (NTS) filings decreased again (9.64% at the county level and 5.1% at the state level). The prior month NTS filings showed an even larger decrease but we need to remember that December had a larger-than-normal number of NTS filings in preparation for post-holiday catch up.
Outcomes:
The auction outcomes are the most interest portion of the January statistics.
Cancellations at the County level were up 11% from the prior month but were almost unchanged year-over-year. At the State level, cancellations were down 23% from the prior month but were up almost 11% from the prior year. The State’s 23% decrease from the prior month takes into account the abnormally high number of cancellations in December (they were up 61% over the prior year and 45% over the prior month).
At both the County and State levels, there was a small increase in the number of properties that went back to the banks when compared month-over-month. However, there was a HUGE decrease in the number of properties that went back to the banks when compared to the prior year. The County showed a decrease of 41.48% and the State showed a decrease of 37.58%. These decreases are due to the abnormally large number of homes that were purchased by 3rd parties.
The number of properties purchased at auction by 3rd parties (generally investors) showed a large increase both month-over-month and year-over-year. Month-over-month, the County had a 51% increase and the State had a 26% increase. Year-over-year, both the County and State showed 20% increases. In the State of California, 3,964 homes were sold to investors for $766.2 million. This large increase in investor purchases has made headlines and is a good indicator of two things: the banks are getting more aggressive in their auction pricing (to avoid bringing on more inventory) and a lot of investors are comfortable putting money into this section of the market right now.
Inventory:
Following the trend over the last 12 months, all inventories (preforeclosure, scheduled for sale, and bank owned) were down again in the month of January. On the County and State levels, the month-over-month changes were minimal but the decline ranged from 11% – 35% when compared to the prior year.
For a glossary of foreclosure terms, questions on the foreclosure procedure or to get a copy of the full January report, please email a request to: emily@capstonerealtycorp.com
To look for foreclosures in your area, please use our Foreclosure Search page (direct access to Foreclosure Radar records at no cost to you).
