Foreclosure Activity Down In Central Valley, California and Nevada

Stockton once led the nation in foreclosures. Now, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, it ranks 45th. 

According to Daren Blomquist with the research firm, last month there were 376 properties with foreclosure filings in Stockton - a 66% drop from a year ago.

"That 376 properties with foreclosure filings - back  in 2006, Stockton was averaging 394, and so you're really back to those pre-recession levels in Stockton."

In Sacramento, foreclosure filings were down 63 percent in October from a year ago.

Statewide, there were about 15-thousand properties with foreclosure filings last month, a major improvement compared to a few years ago, said Blomquist. "

"Comparing to the height of the housing crisis back in 2008-2009, we were seeing some months, as high as 100,000 properties with foreclosure filings in California, but now we're down to 15,000, so really a very small number compared to that."

Blomquist said that's down nearly 60 percent year over year -- but it's still higher than the roughly 6,500 monthly filings the state experienced before the recession.

He said reasons for the decline include the state's Homeowner Bill of Rights, which slowed the foreclosure process down, and rising property values.

Realtytrac expects a temporary bump in foreclosure activity next year as lenders adjust to the law.

In Nevada, that state's Homeowner Bill of Rights appears to be having a big impact as well.   

Nevada's foreclosure rate was down 39 percent from September to October, just a month after a major filing surge.  Blomquist said that's because the state's Homeowner law took effect in October.

"They have to in many ways change the way they are foreclosing and so that's affecting their procedures and causing the sharp drop in the nubers."

Despite the drop, Nevada's foreclosure rate is still the second highest in the nation.  According to RealtyTrac, one in every 407 homes in the state awa a foreclosure filing last month.