Foreclosure Notices Rising In Upscale Neighborhoods
Mortgage distress is rising in affluent areas around the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a Chronicle analysis of foreclosure notices.
In upscale communities such as Los Altos, Greenbrae and Alamo, where median prices top $1 million, about twice as many households received default notices from January to September as in the same period in 2008, according to recorders’ office data compiled by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm.
The same is true for mid-scale areas with median prices around $500,000, such as Walnut Creek, Los Gatos and Campbell.
“The question is, could this be the beginning of something that gets a whole lot worse?” said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick. “The distress in the high end right now is important to watch; it helps explain why we have more sales (of high-end homes). More distress means more-motivated and more-realistic sellers. We’re just starting to find out whether the riskier loans that were not subprime will come back to haunt us.”
