New foreclosure actions in states along the country’s West Coast returned to levels in line with prior months during September, according to ForeclosureRadar, a California-based company that tracks every foreclosure in its five-state coverage area.
The leveling off in September follows a strong surge in foreclosure starts during the month of August in the western states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and puts new foreclosure tallies far below the numbers seen at the peak of each state's foreclosure activity.
ForeclosureRadar reports California has seen a drop in activity of 56 percent since its peak, from 58,623 notice of default filings in March of 2009 to 25,778 today.
Arizona shows a similar swing in notice of trustee sale filings, from 14,722 in March of 2009 to 5,982 filings last month - a decrease of 59.4 percent.
“While foreclosure activity returned to its normal course in September, we fully expect to see more volatility like we saw in August as banks continue to work in fits and starts through robo-signing and other issues,” said Sean OToole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.“It’s almost unfathomable that four years into this crisis there would still be so much uncertainty on how to best deal with the trillions in bad mortgage debt that was created during the credit bubble,” OToole added.