Murrieta's Foreclosures Among Highest in Nation

Murrieta continues to have one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, a real-estate analyst said Thursday.

Daren Blomquist, vice president of the Irvine-based RealtyTrac, reported that in July, the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino remained the third-highest in the United States for default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — that is, households in some stage of foreclosure.

Stockton is No. 1 in the United States and the Vallejo-Fairfield area is No. 2, he said. In the two-county Riverside-San Bernardino area, one in every 187 households is in foreclosure, he said. The southwest end of Riverside County has an even higher foreclosure rate.

Compare that with the national foreclosure average, one in 686 households, according to Blomquist.

In southwest Riverside County, Wildomar had the highest rate of foreclosures in July but Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula were close behind.

Here are more local and regional breakdowns for July, according to the real-estate analyst:

• Murrieta's foreclosure rate was one in every 149 housing units, 264 foreclosures.
• Murrieta Hot Springs, as measured by the area within the 92563 ZIP code, had a higher foreclosure rate than the rest of Murrieta, one in every 117 households.
• Temecula saw 258 foreclosures, or one in every 152 households.
• Lake Elsinore, 147 foreclosures, one in every 151 households.
• Wildomar, 68, one in every 147 households.

Update 5:40 p.m. Feel the heat: Explore RealtyTrac's interactive "foreclosure rate heat map" for Riverside County HERE.