Foreclosure rates, default notices soar

The San Diego Union Tribune reports:

San Diego County is experiencing mortgage foreclosure rates not seen for the past eight years, two monitoring companies reported yesterday.

Locally based DataQuick Information Systems said foreclosures totaled 171 last month, more than 10 times what they were a year ago and the highest since 1998.

Similarly, the number of default notices – the first step lenders take toward foreclosure – was 872, nearly triple the 334 filed in September 2005.

Meanwhile, RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, reported area default notices totaled 1,236, up from 287 a year ago, and notices of trust-deed sales – the final notice before foreclosure – were at 247, up from 56 over the same period.

Although the rising trend reported by the two companies is the same, the raw numbers reported by each differ because they track foreclosure rates differently, executives at each firm said.

The trend in California.