Are California Foreclosures Causing Declines in The Real Estate Market?
December 2010, was another good month in real estate when reports stated that California foreclosures are now on a steady decline. Other notable data released shows that leading lending institutions filed foreclosures on fewer homes in California over the previous quarter. However, this news has still not been able to create a reversal in the declining California housing market. There seems to be several factors that may be contributing to this problem, such as the remnants of the subprime loans, which have left it more difficult for first time homebuyers to make a purchase. Even though California foreclosures and homes sold were both on a decline in the last month of 2010, the state is still ranking as one of the top five areas for United States foreclosure rates.
San Jose foreclosures showed signs of having the largest indicators for a possible housing market recovery as investors began to buy before housing prices rise again. Analysts have reviewed the numbers and reported San Jose foreclosures with a remarkable -21.97 decrease in foreclosures over the November to December 2010 time period.
This decline was responsible for overall housing prices to move up. Also, more homes which had applied for modified mortgages have entered into the permanent modification status, which prevents them from going into foreclosure. Another factor contributing to the decline in San Jose foreclosures is the increase of approved short sales to avoid foreclosure. The decline in home foreclosures has led to the decline in foreclosure sales, which then allowed for the real estate price levels to increase.
These recent changes in the housing movement are a growing concern for consumer analysts who worry about the market dropping and stalling complete economic recovery. The housing bubble has also affected Los Angeles foreclosures, where housing prices grew quickly, and then rapidly declined,leaving borrowers owing more than then their property was worth. Although, the number of filings may actually be down, there still is an record high amount of homes that are being taken back by the banks as their foreclosures become complete. Los Angeles foreclosures are showing a decline of -19.17 from the months of November to December 2010, which could be related to demands by the Obama administration for lenders to work more with homeowners in default.
Santa Rosa foreclosures were close behind the numbers reported in Los Angeles with a decrease of -18.82%, along with Long Beach foreclosures with a decrease of -16.83%, during the time period of November to December, 2010. Other areas of California Real Estate where the rate of bank foreclosure filings have declined as well are Corona 
foreclosures at -4.91% and San Diego foreclosures at -2.51% decline from the months of November to December 2010.
While the California foreclosures rate has made a tremendous comeback in the last part of 2010 when compared to 2009, the state still has one of the highest rates of home foreclosures in the nation. But there is good news circulating the that long stalled economic recovery may finally have reached California with employers starting to hire again leading experts to state that this is a good indicator the economy will start to take off. More good news relating to the biodiversity and environment of California comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with their recent announcement regarding the California condor captive breeding program. In 1982, only 22 wild California condors were reported in existence. In need of a fast way to increase the size of the birds’ population, the captive breeding program was created and because of the program, there are now 100 California condors living in the wild. It may not be a concrete population, but it is good news the species have recovered from the brink of extinction.
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