California foreclosures fall, but that's not necessarily good news

Not if the filings are down because of various holdups within the mortgage industry, which seems to be the case. First-quarter filings in L.A. County were down 11.6 percent, according to Dataquick; in OC they were off 11.7 percent. Statewide, foreclosure activity was at its lowest level since the second quarter of 2007, before the recession got going. Most of the loans going into default are from the 2005-2007 period, just as the bubble was about to burst. From the press release:

"Lenders and servicers have put various temporary holds on foreclosure filings while they work on procedural issues and respond to regulatory and legal challenges. It's unclear how much of last quarter's decline can be attributed to market factors and strategic decisions, and how much can be attributed to the formalities of the foreclosure process," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

On average, homes foreclosed on took 9.1 months to get through the process, from 8.8 months during the prior quarter and 7.5 months a year earlier.

Notices of Default

County/Region 2010Q1 2011Q1 Yr/Yr%

Los Angeles 15,797 13,957 -11.6%

Orange 5,270 4,652 -11.7%

San Diego 6,170 4,758 -22.9%

Riverside 8,474 6,769 -20.1%

San Bernardino 6,736 5,514 -18.1%

Ventura 1,643 1,437 -12.5%

Imperial 491 289 -41.1%

Source: DataQuick, DQNews.com