ANAHEIM, Calif. - Real estate foreclosures in California have stabilized for the first time since 1991, when the state entered an economic recession, according to a report by TRW Redi Property Data
Second-quarter foreclosures were off 0.9% from the year-earlier rate.
Foreclosure rates vary along regional lines in California. In Northern California about 30% of notices of default go into foreclosure, while in Southern California the rate is about 50%.
Foreclosures are generally highest when a recession combines with a decline in home values. This is because financially strapped homeowners have no equity to protect and thus no motivation to cure their loan defaults.
Another report by TRW Redi said second-quarter sales of new and existing homes in South Florida - which includes Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties - ran 15.8% below the year-earlier rate, despite lower interest rates.
The sharpest decline was for new home sales, which dropped about 26%. The average price in South Florida was $145,000, according to TRW.
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WASHINGTON - Revenues of title insurance companies fell about 30% in the first half, according to the American Land Title Association. Second- quarter gross title fees for the industry were just above $1.8 billion.
But the director of research at the association, Richard W. McCarthy, said business was starting to pick up because of an increase in housing starts and home sales sparked by declining interest rates.
Loss and loss-adjustment expenses of the insurers for the second quarter totaled more than $115 million, a 17% drop.
For the first quarter of 1995, expenses in the loss category were slightly above $54 million, a 13% increase.
