Good News For Central Valley Foreclosure Figures

April 11th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosures

According to the latest figures, foreclosures have slowed down in the Central Valley in March. The decline has not been even but something that cannot be ignored. In places where there has not been a decline, the increase pace is slower than the previous rate. According to Default Research the regions where there has been the most intense foreclosure activity are San Joaquin and Sacramento – 5.5% of all the houses had entered the dreaded foreclosure zone. Foreclosure here includes all the stages of the judicial process.

In March there were 3,495 houses in foreclosure in Sacramento County. It is triple the figure of March 2007 and 5.56% more than February 2008. But in San Joaquin the picture is altered. Here 1,552 houses were foreclosed – this being an improvement for the first time this year. In February there had been 1,900 foreclosure postings and in January 2,420. Compared to March 2007 when there had been 694 foreclosures, the picture continues to be grim.

Fresno County is seeing a month by month drop in foreclosures. In March there were 1,136 foreclosure listings as compared to 1,169 in February and 1,297 in January this year. In the previous year in March there were only 377 foreclosures in this region.

There was an increase of 0.75% increase in foreclosures in March 2008 as compared to February in Kern County. In March there had been 1,610 as against 1,598 foreclosures in February this year.

In Stanislaus County the number of foreclosures was 1,146 in March as against 1,137 in February 2008. It calculated to an increase of 0.79%.

The founder of Default research, Serdar Bankcaci commented that this is the best time for investors to dig in. It is a rare opportunity to buy property in a place like Northern California. To all appearances the worst is over in Northern California and the curve seems to be rising. Recovery will take place all through this year. Another reason for this upswing is the improvement in employment figures. Higher rate of employment equates to a lesser number of mortgage defaults. Those who are smart should invest now and rent out the units for two years or so. After that it could be sold out pocketing a neat profit. The problem right now is the cash and credit crunch.

There is a law of Nature that applies to economics also – there are continuous cycles of change. Winter of foreclosure despair cannot continue forever.