Imperial Beach Mortgage Defaults Rise Slightly

The number of San Diego County homes slipping toward foreclosure dropped by 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2012, compared to the same period last year, a real estate information service reported Monday.

In Imperial Beach, the rate of mortgage defaults is up from May, but still within the recent average. The rate of foreclosure sales is significantly down compared to last month, the lowest number in 2012.

In June, 12 homeowners in Imperial Beach were given notice of default, up 50 percent from last month and up 33 percent from June 2011.

According to ForeclosureRadar.com, 11 IB homeowners were given notices of sale, up 22.2 percent from May but down 21.4 percent from 2011.

Lenders sent default notices to 4,099 homeowners in San Diego County in the second quarter, down from the 2011 second-quarter total of 4,158, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Statewide, default notices were sent to 54,615 homeowners in the second quarter of the year, DataQuick reported.

That was a 2.9 percent drop from the previous quarter and down 3.6 percent from the second quarter in 2011, when 56,633 default notices were sent.

“The foreclosure process has always been the sanitation department of the housing sector,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“It’s where financial distress is processed. The question is whether these lower (default notice) numbers mean that there’s less distress to process, or if we’re just seeing distress get processed at a slower pace.”

Default notices do not always lead to a home foreclosure. Some homeowners emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing or selling the home, DataQuick said.

As a whole, home sales and prices have increased in the past year across Southern California.

San Diego County home sales jumped by 9.1 percent in June, compared to the same month a year ago, while prices rose by 1.7 percent.

A total of 3,756 homes changed hands locally last month, compared to 3,444 in June 2011, DataQuick said. The median price of a home in San Diego County in June was $335,500—up from $330,000 in June 2011.

In Imperial Beach, the median price for a home in June 2012 was $230,000, with a 2.6 percent decline in home sales since June 2011.

A total of 22,075 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in June, according to DataQuick. That was down 0.5 percent from 22,192 in May, and up 7.5 percent from 20,532 in June 2011.

The median price for a Southern California home was $300,000 last month, up 1.7 percent from $295,000 in May and up 5.3 percent from $285,000 in June 2011.

"The June numbers look pretty good at first glance, but they're more mixed when you scratch beneath the surface," Walsh said. "Yes, the median sale price rose again, but it's clear this has a lot to do with changes in the types of homes selling, rather than across-the- board price appreciation. Fewer of the homes selling now are foreclosures, while more are nice houses in mid- to higher-end neighborhoods."

—City News Service contributed to this report