June 2012 Foreclosure Sales were significantly down in the three largest foreclosure states in our coverage area. California Foreclosure Sales were down 13.4 percent over last month, and down 48.8 percent vs. June 2011. Arizona Foreclosure Sales were down 18.5 percent over last month, and down 42.1 percent vs. June 2011. Nevada Foreclosure Sales were down 14.6 percent over last month, and down 72.1 percent vs. June 2011 driven by the new regulation that took effect in October 2011. In addition, Foreclosure Filings are flat to down in all states in our coverage area, both on a month-over-month basis and vs. the previous year. Arizona Notice of Sales was down 27.7 percent over last month, Nevada Notice of Defaults was down 22.7 percent over last month, and California Notice of Defaults was basically flat, being down 0.9 percent over last month.
We already have significantly low home sales in the market today, and with the declining level of Foreclosure Sales, the inventory will continue to decrease. In California, banks take on average 272 days to resell properties they take back at auction, thus, Realtors, investors, and homebuyers should brace themselves for significantly less inventory in next year's selling season.
"California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Homeowner Bill of Rights, an anti-foreclosure package which naively thinks that slowing foreclosures will benefit homeowners and the economy by leaving those owners stuck in their prison of debt," stated Sean O'Toole, Founder & CEO of ForeclosureRadar. "We've long said negative equity, not foreclosures, are the problem, and this bill does nothing to truly help underwater borrowers. Fortunately, this bill was watered down significantly from its original form, so we don't expect it will have the same impact that we've seen from more aggressive legislation in Nevada. The most ironic part of this bill's passage is that foreclosures have already plummeted and that the real housing crisis is now a lack of homes available for sale. Next spring, we expect there will be half as many REOs available for sale in California, significantly impacting overall home sales and hurting home buyers, investors, real estate-related services, and the economy.
Foreclosure Statistics - June 2012:
Arizona (Notice of Trustee Sale filings):
Foreclosure Starts: 5,236 (-27.7%)
Foreclosure Sales: 2,998 (-18.6%)
Time to Foreclose: 141 days (+12.8%)
California (Notice of Default filings):
Foreclosure Starts: 20,293 (-0.9%)
Foreclosure Sales: 7,030 (-13.4%)
Time to Foreclose: 309 days (+13.2%)
Nevada (Notice of Default filings):
Foreclosure Starts: 1,265 (-22.7%)
Foreclosure Sales: 861 (-14.6%)
Time to Foreclose: 468 days (+0.9%)
Oregon (Notice of Default filings):
Foreclosure Starts: 1,164 (-12.9%)
Foreclosure Sales: 458 (+38.4%)
Time to Foreclose: 143 days (-3.4%)
Washington (Notice of Trustee Sale filings):
Foreclosure Starts: 2,010 (+2.1%)
Foreclosure Sales: 1,026 (+48.1%)
Time to Foreclose: 100 days (+1.0%)