Foreclosed Properties for Sale in Orange, California to Rise

The number of foreclosed properties for sale in Santa Ana and in other cities of Orange County is expected to increase as mortgages in default and foreclosure filings keep rising across the region.

In May, foreclosure filings in the county have increased to more than 2 percent of all mortgages, compared to the 1.3-percent share in April and the 1.5-percent share in May 2008.

The percentage of home loans in default by three months or more also increased to 6.3 percent in May, compared to the 4.6-percent share in April and to the 4-percent share in May 2008. The average month-over-month increase in the share is 37 percent.

Real estate analysts estimate that about 50 percent of borrowers who will apply for loan modification or loan refinancing will be able to prevent their homes from becoming foreclosed properties for sale, as shown in the results of loan modification efforts in Orange County.

Additionally, about 0.5 percent of all mortgage loans in Orange county are already in banks’ list of foreclosed properties for sale in May, a decrease from the 0.8-percent in May 2008 and in April 2009.

Despite the drop in percentage, the county is expected to experience a rise in foreclosed properties for sale because of the county’s high employment rate, which has jumped to 8.6 percent in May.

The figures above are supported by another study which stated that 6.7 percent of homeowners with home loans in Orange County were two months behind or more on their loan payments in March, an increase from the 5.3-percent figure in December 2008 and more than twice the percentage in March 2008.

The bad debt rate of the county has also grown worse, topping all other counties with its bad debt rate of 5.2 percent in the first quarter. Only California’s bad debt rate was higher, which was 8.4 percent, an increase from nearly 7 percent in December and the 4.3-percent level in the first quarter of 2008.

The county’s credit card delinquency rate also reached 1.4 percent in March, meaning 1.4 percent of credit card holders in the area defaulted on their credit card debt by three months or more.

Consumer advocates in the U.S. estimate that the credit card delinquency rate will reach 7 percent nationwide because of the lingering effects of record numbers of foreclosed properties for sale and the recession.

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• One in Eight Homeowners Delayed or in Foreclosed Housing
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