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2007 sales activity crawls, foreclosures hit record highs

Loan filings have also decreased

BY GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Jan 3 2008 9:06 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 3 2008 9:06 PM

Record foreclosures and defaults hit Kern in 2007, year-end figures from the county show, while activity for property sales and loans declined from recent years.

Defaults

Lenders sent 8,651 default notices to Kern property owners last year, according to the latest report from the county Recorder’s Office.

That’s by far the highest annual number since 1995, when the county started tracking filings, and nearly double the next closest year — 1997 — when 4,367 defaults were recorded.

Last year’s total is also more than twice that for 2006, when 3,275 defaults were recorded, and more than triple 2005’s tally of 2,058.

The pace of defaults increased during the year, with December netting the most filings: 1,067, a monthly record. In January, by comparison, 489 default notices were recorded.

Foreclosures

Foreclosed properties also hit annual and monthly highs.

A total of 3,007 properties were foreclosed on last year, compared to 408 in 2006.

The next closest year was 1998’s total of 2,683.

December’s count of 421 foreclosed properties set a new monthly record and continued a quickening pace since the beginning of the year, when 103 foreclosures were recorded.

Loans, deeds

Overall real estate activity slowed in 2007, the report shows.

Loan filings fell to 53,047, compared with more than 84,000 in 2006 and nearly 98,000 in 2005.

Property sales and transfers dropped to 43,154 filings from nearly 63,000 in 2006 and more than 75,000 in 2005, the report shows.