Total foreclosure filings down 2 percent from Q2, but up 19 percent from Q3 2008.

California reported 250,054 properties with foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2009, a decrease of less than 2 percent from the previous quarter but still almost 19 percent above the level reported in September 2008, according to the latest RealtyTrac^® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.  One in every 53 California housing units received a foreclosure filing in September, the third highest state foreclosure rate in the nation.

Foreclosure activity in the Golden State was down more than 6 percent in September from the previous month to 86,337 properties with foreclosure filings, but remained elevated on a yearly basis, up 24 percent from September 2008. The state’s foreclosure rate was second highest in the nation for the month — with one in every 154 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 2.4 times the national average.

“A slight dip in the quarterly and monthly foreclosure numbers is not going to make a huge difference for California, the state with the largest population and number of housing units in the country,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The number of default notices was down 10 percent from the previous quarter, but that was more than offset by a 12 percent increase in properties that went back to the bank as REOs. Given an unemployment rate that is well above the national average at 12.2 percent, until people stop losing their jobs we are not going to see a bottom to the market or an end to the foreclosure run-up.”

As it has for almost two years now, California continues to lead the nation in total foreclosure activity by a large margin on both a monthly and quarterly basis. For the third quarter, Florida posted the second highest activity level, reporting 156,924 properties with foreclosure filings. Arizona reported 50,342 properties with foreclosure filings, third highest level in the nation. Nevada came in fourth highest, reporting 47,925 properties with foreclosure filings during the quarter, while Illinois tallied the fifth highest total, documenting 37,270 properties with foreclosure filings. The top five states alone represented 58 percent of all foreclosure filings in the nation during the quarter.

For September, the remainder of the nation’s top 5 states for total foreclosure filings were Florida (55,036), Nevada (18,766), Michigan (16,767), and Georgia (14,972). Activity in the top five states accounted for 58 percent of the nation’s foreclosure total in September.

Merced County posts state’s top foreclosure rate in third quarter

With one in every 27 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 5.1 times the national average and twice the state average — Merced County posted the highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the third quarter. Riverside County was a close second, with one in every 28 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — 4.9 times the national average and 1.9 times the state average. Third highest rate was posted by San Joaquin County, where one in every 28 housing units received a foreclosure filing — 4.8 times the national average and 1.9 times the state average.

Top foreclosure totals for third quarter in southern half of state

The state’s top county foreclosure totals for the third quarter were all counties in the southern half of the state. Los Angeles County continued its dominance, reporting 53,301 properties with foreclosure filings for the quarter. Riverside County remained second highest, reporting 27,349 properties with foreclosure filings. San Bernardino County came in third, tallying 21,067 properties with foreclosure filings. Fourth highest for the quarter was San Diego County, reporting 18,519 properties with foreclosure filings. Orange County documented 16,102 properties with foreclosure filings, the state’s fifth highest foreclosure total in the quarter.

State the largest contributor to nation’s foreclosure activity for quarter and month

California accounted for almost 27 percent of the 937,840 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide for the third quarter and 25 percent of the 343,638 properties with foreclosure filings reported for September. Total U.S. activity declined 5.4 percent between the second and third quarter of the year, but was up 23 percent from the third quarter of 2008. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in 2005.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month — broken out by type of filing at the county, state and national level. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is filed against a property during the month — which is extremely rare — only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

California Top Foreclosure Rates By County – Q3 2009

California Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Q3 2009

California Top Foreclosure Rates By County – Sept 2009

California Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Sept 2009