After hitting its peak two years ago, foreclosure activity in the Sacramento region has slowed in recent quarters. But experts say it will be years before the local housing market returns to its pre-crisis levels.
In a report released Tuesday, San Diego-based DataQuick said a total of 3,397 notices of default were filed in Sacramento County during the second quarter of 2011, a 16.1 percent decline from the year-earlier period.
Notices of default filed with county recorders – the first step in the foreclosure process – fell 19.8 percent in Placer County and 12.9 percent in Yolo County.
"Barring an economic shock, we're through the worst of it," said Andrew LePage, analyst at DataQuick. "But this problem will be around for a couple of years."
Foreclosure activity in Sacramento County peaked in the second quarter of 2008, when more than 7,300 notices of default were filed.
Since then, new foreclosure filings throughout the region and the state have steadily declined, partly as a result of an improving economic outlook.
The current filings for Sacramento County are still well above historic levels for foreclosures, indicating that the local market will continue to struggle with troubled home loans.
According to DataQuick, the Sacramento region saw an average of about 2,000 new foreclosures each quarter between 1992 and 2011.
Statewide, new filings fell 19.2 percent during the second quarter to 56,633, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007 and less than half the record 135,431 default notices filed in the first three months of 2009.
Completed foreclosures in the local region also declined in the latest three-month period.
The number of trustees' deeds recorded – which reflect the actual loss of a home – dropped 2.2 percent in Sacramento County and 35.4 percent in Placer County.
But other parts of the Sacramento region continued to post big jumps in the number of homes lost through foreclosure, indicating continued weakness in the local real estate market.
Trustees' deed filings in Yolo County grew 14.9 percent during the quarter, while El Dorado County saw a 44.5 percent jump.
ECONOMY
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