Need additional proof that times are a changing in Orange County real estate? More than 4,300 Orange County households were in some stage of foreclosure in May, representing 1% of all mortgage borrowers. While 4,300 homes is above levels from before the big housing crash, it’s less than half the number of a year ago May when early 8,900 Orange County households, or 2% of local borrowers. Less than 8,000 Orange County homes were in the distressed stage of 90 or more days late on mortgage payments, but had not yet entered the foreclosure process.

Obviously we would like this number to be zero and have all OC families living comfortably and within their means, but this is a start! And certainly compared to the rest of the country, where 1 million U.S. homes were in the foreclosure process in May, representing 2.6% of borrowers. This number is down a whopping 29% from a year earlier. Furthermore, lenders seized or sold only 52,000 U.S. homes in May 2013, vs. 71,000 in May 2012 and an additional 1.2 million U.S. households were 90 or more days late on mortgage payments, but had not yet entered the foreclosure process.

Nationwide, and especially in the real estate-centric Orange County, we continue to see a sharp drop in home foreclosures. To date, about 4.4 million U.S. homes have gone through foreclosure since September 2008.

According to CoreLogic:

  • 1.2% of all borrowers in California were in some stage of foreclosure and almost 4% of borrowers were 90 days or more late on mortgage payments (including those in the foreclosure process).
  • 1.7% of all borrowers in the Inland Empire faced foreclosure and 5.6% were 90-plus days late.
  • 1.3% of all borrowers in Los Angeles faced foreclosure and 4.2% were 90-plus days late.
  • 1% of all borrowers in San Diego faced foreclosure and 3.3% were 90-plus days late.

As you can see, Orange County’s real estate economy seems to be one of the top in the state! Nationally, 2 million U.S. homes were either 90-plus days late or in foreclosure but had yet to be listed for sale. While still a big number, it’s down 34% from the 2010 peak.

For more information on the state of the OC’s real estate market, contact experienced real estate agent Cheryl Marquis today.