San Francisco Area Foreclosure activity hits highest level in two years

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Foreclosure activity across the Bay Area and California ticked up to its highest level in two years in the first quarter as the pace of home price gains slackened, according to a real estate information firm.

Fewer homeowners could count on the higher profit from a home sale to help bail them out of late mortgage payments -- although foreclosure rates remain well below all-time highs.

In its quarterly report, La Jolla's DataQuick found that 2,583 notices of default were filed in the nine-county region during the first three months of the year, up 8.3 percent over the first quarter of 2005 and nearly 13 percent over the fourth quarter of 2005.

Notices of default, first formal step in the foreclosure process, are typically sent when homeowners fall several months behind on their mortgages.

In other regions of the state, the increases were much higher. Southern California, for instance, saw a 33 percent jump in notices of default, from 8,330 in the first quarter of last year to 11,102 in the first quarter of this year.

Higher interest rates will mean higher foreclosures.