California Foreclosures Plummet in June

Completed foreclosures collapsed in June, near their lowest levels of this crisis.

ForeclosuresRadar reports:

Foreclosure activity was mixed in June after being down across the board in May. Filing of new foreclosure notices rose, while foreclosure sales dropped. The number of foreclosure sales that were cancelled hit an all time record in June, but the increase was primarily driven by just one lender JP Morgan Chase, and it’s acquisitions including Washington Mutual. Although the number of properties purchased by 3rd parties at auction dropped significantly, they purchased nearly the same percentage of the total properties sold, and at a better discount to market value then we’ve seen in months.

“Historically it is very unusual to have more Notice of Trustee Sale filings than Notices of Default” says Sean O’Toole, Founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.com. “But with skyrocketing cancellations and the possibility of failing loan modifications, this will be increasingly common, as lenders are only required to file
a Notice of Trustee Sale to restart the foreclosure process.”

Both Notices of Default and Notices of Trustee Sale increased in June.

Notice the drop in properties sold back to the bank. This number of completed foreclosures was only briefly lower last Spring, right as HAMP was being introduced.