California foreclosure auction rising

June 14th, 2011, posted by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter

More foreclosure auctions were scheduled in California  in May than in April, the first month-over month increase in 2011, according to a report by ForeclosureRadar.com. Also in May, California saw the fewest foreclosure starts — notices of default — since October 2008, when a state law temporarily halted the notice of default process, the report shows. But actual foreclosure auctions in the state have sped up, with cancellations down 24.3% from April and 18% from the prior year. In addition, said Sean O’Toole, ForeclosureRadar CEO: “Third party investors resold the homes they previously purchased at auction at a faster pace throughout our coverage area. As the most sophisticated and motivated homesellers in the marketplace, these investors provide an important indicator as to the health of the entire housing market. “While the statistic is encouraging, it’s too early to tell whether it is a turning point from the otherwise recent downward trend within the housing market,” he wrote in his blog.

Highlights from the report:

• More foreclosures were scheduled for sale at auctions in May, with notice of trustee sale filings up 16.6% from April, the first month-over-month increase this year. They still were down 9% from May a year ago.
• Notices of default fell 4% from April to May and 16.5% from May 2010.
• Foreclosure sales on the courthouse steps were up, with 3.4% more homes going back to banks and 4.1% increase in foreclosed properties sold to investors. 
• The average time to foreclose continued to increase, up 10.3% to a new record of 344 days.
• Time to resell went down 7.6% month-over-month to 134 days, the fewest number of days since September 2010. That’s likely due at least partly to a lack of foreclosure inventory throughout much of California, the report said.
• The number of foreclosure starts also dropped from April to May in four other Western states monitered by ForeclosureRadar: Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.