Foreclosure Activity Remains Subdued

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Readers may recall that the number of San Diego homes entering the foreclosure process plummeted in September. This drop was coincident with a new state law mandating an extra 30 days before foreclosure could be initiated.

Yet as of November, 30 days had come and gone a couple times over but foreclosures had not started back up again. It seems that there is something else causing a downshift in in foreclosure activity. The manifold bailout attempts would be my guess.

The question is whether the assorted bailouts have merely caused a temporary slowdown in foreclosure processing or whether they are actually inducing troubled mortgages to be worked out in a sustainable manner. I don’t know the answer to that question, but I suspect that it’s a little bit of both for the time being.

— RICH TOSCANO