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The Silicon Valley Business Journal has an interesting article on the rapid increase of foreclosures in the San Francisco Bay Area. The region has seen some of the highest appreciation of property value in the nation and now with prices retrenching, many people are falling behind on their mortgages or walking away from them.

DataQuick Information Systems reported that 2,583 notices of default were filed in the nine-county region, an 8.3 percent increase over the same period last year and an almost 13 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2005.

In Santa Clara County, there were 527 notices of default, a 5.4 percent increase over the year-ago period. In Monterey County there were 129 notices, a 63.3 percent increase. In San Mateo County, there were 186 notices — one of the few places that saw a drop. In the year-ago period there were 188 notices.
Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president, said a number of factors are driving defaults higher. “Home values are rising more slowly than they have the past couple of years, which makes it more difficult for homeowners to sell their homes and pay off the lender.”

The median first-quarter default amount on a primary mortgage was $9,220 on a loan of $280,000. On second mortgages and lines of credit, the median amount owed was $3,386 on a loan of $56,760.

In Southern California, the default rates for the quarter were much higher, with a 33 percent jump to 11,102 notices.

via  Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal:.

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