California Notice-of-Defaults Jump 45 Percent in December

California faced a substantial 45.4 percent jump in new borrower defaults as 2007 came to a close, with 32,948 notices of default filed in December, compared to 22,665 in November. December auction sales also increased by 4.1 percent from November, according to a report from research firm ForeclosureRadar, reaching a total of 12,783 properties.

For you non-industry types: in California, the default process generally begins with a notice of default (NOD), and generally ends with a notice of trustee sale (NTS), after which the property is sold at auction to the highest bidder. (The highest bidder these days is often the bank itself.)

A total of 9,001 properties have been sold at auction in just the first eight business days of January, the firm also noted; such surges are common after lender-imposed holiday moratoriums on both foreclosure sales and evictions.

“The impact of the credit crisis that began in August is now clearly starting to show its impact,â€? said ForeclosureRadar founder Sean O’Toole. “Many analysts fail to understand the delays inherent in the foreclosure process, and I believe we have yet to see the real impact from the ARM resets that began in earnest last October.â€?

The majority of loans going to auction continue to have been originally made in 2006 (52 percent), 2005 (34 percent), 2007 (8 percent) and 2004 (5.4 percent).

At the county level, notable month over month increases in activity were seen in Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Marin and San Francisco counties, according to the report.