California foreclosures up four-straight months with 16.6% rise in August

by JASON PHILYAW

Notice of default filings in California rose for the fourth-straight month in August climbing another 16.6%, according to ForeclosureRadar, which also began issuing data on foreclosure rates in four more states and unveiled new search functions on its website.

The firm has been tracking foreclosure rates in California since March 2007, and will now offer data for Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well, after tracking those states for a year. Executives expect the added search capabilities to allow readers "to dynamically drill down to the state, county, city and ZIP code level of their choice."

Foreclosures fell 12.2% in Arizona last month after rising 28.8% in July, but are down 20.3% from the year earlier. Banks took back more properties at auction than they resold in August in Arizona, pushing the inventory of REO homes, up 4.79% from July and 60.48% from the year ago, according to ForeclosureRadar.

In California, foreclosures are down 16.3% from a year earlier, and fewer homeowners found foreclosure relief as cancellations fell 11.2% and 15.6% more homes were lost in foreclosure sales, the firm said.

The number of foreclosures in Nevada in August was 6,682, down 41.8% from the year ago and 7.5% below 7,223 in July.

In the Northwest, foreclosures in Oregon rose 10.7% in August from the month earlier and are up 12.5% from last year. Washington saw a 15.8% decline in the monthly rate but the August level of 3,598 foreclosures is 82% higher than the year earlier.

"Real estate markets are local, not national, and like other real estate trends foreclosure trends vary a great deal by location” said Sean O'Toole, ForeclosureRadar founder and chief executive. "We are excited to be able to bring timely, accurate, in-depth and location-specific foreclosure data to the Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington markets."

URL to Original Post: http://www.housingwire.com/2010/09/14/california-foreclosures-up-four-straight-months-with-16-6-rise-in-august