Report: Foreclosures Rise in Murrieta After 5-Month Decline

Riverside County had the highest foreclosure rate in the state during the first half of 2011, a real estate tracking firm said this week.

Between January and June, a total of 25,901 mortgage default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions were recorded countywide, translating to 1 in 30 households in some stage of foreclosure, RealtyTrac reported.

Murrieta had the fourth highest rate of new foreclosure activity in the county, behind Moreno Valley with the third highest, Corona with the second highest and Riverside with the highest, reports showed.

One in every 72 homes received a foreclosure filing in Murrieta last month, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac. The increase followed a continual decline in each month since January, data showed.

The highest concentration of foreclosure notices were filed against homes in the 92563 zip code of Murrieta, the firm reported. One in every 46 homes received notices in 92563, while it was one in 99 in zip code 92562.

The average foreclosure sales price in Murrieta is at $237,915, according to RealtyTrac. In Temecula, it's $273,717.

Temecula saw less foreclosure activity in June than Murrieta. One in every 122 homes was filed against, with the highest concentration—one in every 95—in the 92590 zip code.

Despite ranking No. 1 in foreclosures, Riverside County’s volume of filings was 14 percent lower than during the last six months of 2010, and 26 percent lower than the amount recorded in the first half of last year, figures showed.

Stanislaus County had the second-highest foreclosure rate, followed by San Joaquin County, while Solano County ranked No. 4 and San Bernardino County came in at No. 5.

Nationally, the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area ranked fifth in foreclosure filings during the first half of 2011. The number of defaults was down 16 percent relative to the previous six months.

"These dramatic decreases indicate the foreclosure pipeline continues to be clogged in many local markets across the country, sometimes by a glut of already-foreclosed properties that are not selling quickly, sometimes by a mountain of improperly filed foreclosures that are blocking the inflow of new foreclosure filings--and sometimes both," said RealtyTrac CEO James J Saccacio.

A state-by-state breakdown revealed California had the third-highest foreclosure rate in the United States, with 1 in 51 households in default during the first six months of the year. Foreclosure filings were down 13 percent statewide compared to the last half of 2010.

City News Service contributed to this report.