Big Jump of Foreclosure Activity by 72 Percent in Santa Clara County

There is yet another proof that the foreclosure mitigation plans of the government have had little effect – the foreclosure activity report for March in Santa Clara County of the Bay Area, records a 72 percent jump from last year.

The federal government released last year, The Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP), with the advertised objective of bringing down foreclosures in the country, whereas during January and February this year, there were1.1 million new delinquencies, falling at least 30 days behind mortgage, all over US.

As regards Santa Clara County, during March this year, 434 foreclosures were recorded, as against 253 properties a year earlier. In San Manteo County, this difference is even higher – 233 properties were foreclosed last month – more than double the figure of 80 in March 2009 – the highest ever since July 2008. Overall in the State of California, it stood at 19,308 properties foreclosed – a staggering 92 percent increase from 10,040 in March 2009.

Market analysts say, the steep increase over the year is due to lenders voluntarily halting foreclosure activity in March 2009, in anticipation of the government’s mitigation plan that was in the making. But the loan modifications expected to take place did not materialize effectively.

Neither the new plan – Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives Program (HAFA), complementing the provisions of HAMP and awarding cash incentives for borrowers, lenders and mortgage servicers is of any help to “underwater” home owners.

In the month of March, 1082 property owners in Santa Clara County received default notices as the first step of impending foreclosures,  going up compared to 976 in February and dropping down from 1,714 properties in March 2009. Similarly in San Manteo County, this figure is 398 notices of default, increased from 352 for February, but decrease from 578 reported last March 2009.

However, sale of foreclosure properties to third parties showed encouraging trend – more than 4,000 foreclosed homes were sold in March this year in California State, against 1,094 properties in March 2009. In Santa Clara County the number of foreclosures sold was 116 in March against a mere 20 last year. For San Manteo County the number is 37 foreclosure property sales, as against 18 in March 2009.

Posted by Amitesh Kumar on May 3 2010. Filed under Foreclosures, Housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry