Foreclosure Fire Rages a Little Slower 

The nation witnessed three percent less foreclosure activity during October, 2009 than it had the previous month. During the month, as many as 332,292 properties received foreclosure filings, representing one out of every 385 housing units in the whole of US. This makes October the third consecutive month during which foreclosure activity has manifested a slowdown over the previous month. 

How did foreclosure activity fare in California? Bad, as usual. The state had the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation, next only to Nevada’s one in every 80 homes foreclosed, with one out of every 156 housing units having received a foreclosure filing. During the month, 85,420 Californian properties succumbed to foreclosures. The corresponding number of foreclosures in Nevada, despite its highest foreclosure rate, was much less, at 13,842 properties foreclosed.

The Top 10 Foreclosure States

Florida had the third highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every housing units becoming the unhappy recipient of a foreclosure filing. It saw 51,911 properties getting the foreclosure axe. The other states {besides Nevada, California and Florida} that comprise the top 10 foreclosure rate states in the US are, in that order: Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland and Utah. It is interesting that only the four states of California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan accounted for over half of all the foreclosures that occurred throughout the US during the month.

OC’s Foreclosure Activity in October

Closer home, Orange County saw 5,156 fresh foreclosures, notching up a foreclosure rate of one out of every 199 housing units in the county. The Californian County that witnessed the most foreclosure activity during the named month was Los Angeles, with 19,180 reported instances of foreclosure. Within Orange County, Santa Ana witnessed the most foreclosures {703}, followed by Anaheim’s 592 reported foreclosure filings.