Foreclosure Filings Drop for 3rd Month

The number of California homeowners facing foreclosure has dropped for a third consecutive month, leading experts to predict that the overall number for the year will drop for the first time this decade.

Lending institutions started foreclosure proceedings on 12,684 California homeowners in February, an 8.5% drop from the same month last year, according to statistics released by Acxiom/DataQuick in La Jolla.

“With today’s strong home sales and rising prices, more distressed properties are being absorbed by the market before foreclosure proceedings start,” said Mike Ela, president of the real estate information service.

The improvement was especially dramatic in Southern California, where home prices have suffered the biggest losses in recent years.

The six-county area saw a 15% decline overall in the number of default notices filed. A total of 8,002 homes in the area went into foreclosure last month, compared with 9,428 the previous February.

Orange County reported the state’s steepest drop in foreclosures. The 867 notices of default filed in the county last month amount to a 39% decrease from the 1,425 filed the previous February.

Los Angeles County saw the number of foreclosure notices drop 16% to 3,572 filings last month, from 4,260 the previous February. That decline was the ninth-biggest statewide.

Ela said the steepness of the drops are due, in part, to the unusually high number of homes going into foreclosure last year after lenders tightened their foreclosure policies.

“It’s a pretty sure bet that 1997 will be the first year of the 1990s that foreclosures will drop,” he said.

Elsewhere, the number of notices fell 34% in San Diego County to 728 from 1,106; and fell 17% in Ventura County to 194 from 233. Filings increased 13% in San Bernardino County to 1,346 from 1,190; and increased 6.8% in Riverside County to 1,296 from 1,214.

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Default Notices

Foreclosure rates have dropped dramatically in some California counties, with Orange County posting the largest decline. Percentage change from year ago for the 30-day period ended in February:

Los Angeles: -16.1

Orange: -39.2

San Deigo: -34.2

Riverside: +6.8

San Benardino: +13.1

Ventura: -16.8

Statewide: -8.5

Source: Acxion/DataQuick