Number of <b>Real Estate</b> Owned Foreclosures for Sale Up in San Francisco

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Submitted 2011-03-07 08:15:23 The number of real estate owned foreclosures for sale in San Francisco, California, has increased last year compared with previous periods. Since the start of the housing market crisis around four years ago, the city has been able to keep its foreclosure numbers low, allowing it to have one of the lowest rates of foreclosure among all metro areas in California, a state that has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

Foreclosed and repossessed homes in Fresno and in other metro regions of California have been some of the highest recorded in the U.S. in the past four years. Not so in San Francisco. The metro region was able to maintain a relatively stable housing market since the crisis started; but last year, signs have emerged that the San Francisco area is starting to feel the impact of the foreclosure problem.

California repossessed homes and foreclosures have declined in most markets last year, but have increased in the San Francisco metro. Majority of counties in the Bay Area where San Francisco is included posted lower numbers of foreclosures, with San Francisco going in the opposite direction.

According to housing industry experts, the rise in the number of real estate owned foreclosures for sale in the area has more to do with the economy than with bad loans. During the start of the foreclosure crisis, neighboring counties were hit hard as subprime loans failed in majority of these areas. San Francisco was not affected. Being a pricey neighborhood, its properties are not financed by subprime loans.

However, even a city as affluent as San Francisco is not immune from the impact of the recession. Analysts stated that the increase in the number of repo house for sale and foreclosures in the area is a late reaction to the recession that started a few years ago. Most residents of the metro area had the means to ride out the economic downturn, so the impact was not immediate.

This time though, most of them are out of options, and the downturn is starting to creep in to the high-income communities, leading to more real estate owned foreclosures for sale. Local data showed that high-priced properties have started falling into distress in the city in the past few months.

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