Commentary
We continue to hear about the foreclosure wave that is coming after the election or after the New Year. There is clearly no foreclosure wave in sight. Given that it is taking the banks over 280 days in California to resell a property, we would need to see a huge spike in the number of Notices of Default filed now in order to have the properties going to Trustee Sale after the election.
In California, in the month of August, there were over 83,500 properties scheduled for sale. Over 75% of those sales were postponed to a future sale date and close to 13% of those sales were canceled. Of the 12% that actually went to Trustee Sale, investors purchased 4.5% leaving a paltry 6.9% of all properties scheduled for sale going back to the bank.
During the foreclosure boom of 2008, the banks were foreclosing on approximately 27,000 properties per month, and in 2001 that number dipped to an average of 10,500. In 2012 that number has decreased to an average of 5,500 properties.
If you start to hear about another tsunami of foreclosures we suggest you check the numbers. In this market, things can change overnight but if you are tracking the Trustee Sales you will see the change as it happens. A ForeclosureRadar subscription is your early warning system.
