Housing Market Shows More Improvement As Foreclosure Numbers Continue To Decline

Although the Inland Empire had the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation during the third quarter of the year, the numbers are improving, a real estate tracking firm reported today.

A total of 20,504 mortgage default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions were recorded in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area between July and September 2012, translating to 1 in 73 households in some stage of foreclosure, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac.

The number of filings was 7 percent less than the total recorded in the second quarter and 22 percent below the year-ago quarter.

The Stockton metro area was No. 1, with 1 in 67 households in default; Vallejo-Fairfield was just behind the Inland Empire, with 1 in 78; Modesto was No. 4, with 1 in 79; Merced was No. 5, with 1 in 83; Bakersfield was No. 6 with 1 in 87; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville was No. 7 with 1 in 96; Rockford, IL, was No. 8 with 1 in 98; Chicago-Naperville-Joliet was No. 9 with 1 in 99; and Miami-Fort Lauderdale was No. 10 with 1 in 100.

"Two-thirds of the nation's largest metros posted decreases in foreclosure activity in the third quarter, indicating that most of the nation's housing markets are past the worst of the foreclosure problem," said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. "In fact, foreclosure activity in September 2012 was below September 2007 levels in 58 percent of the metro markets we track."

"Still, rebounding foreclosure activity in some markets remains a threat to home price stability and growth in those markets," Blomquist noted. "The rebounding foreclosure activity tends to be in markets where the foreclosure process slowed down most dramatically in the last two years, resulting in a buildup of foreclosures in limbo that lenders are finally working through this year."

In Lake Elsinore, September foreclosure numbers were lower than surrounding cities. Last month the city saw 168 foreclosures, compared to 191 in Temecula and 219 in Murrieta.

The foreclosure news out today follows reports earlier this month that showed the median price of a single-family home in Riverside County edged up nearly 1 percent in September, following a pattern of general price increases throughout the state. Click here to read the story. --Toni McAllister contributed to this report.