Foreclosure filings on California properties rose daily in January compared with December, according to ForeclosureRadar, which tracks foreclosure activity in the state. The daily average of Notices of Default filings rose by 9.5%, while Notice of Trustee Sale filings rose by 10.3%. “With delinquent payments rising, foreclosures slowing, and foreclosure alternatives failing, it appears the foreclosure crisis will be with us for many years to come,” said ForeclosureRadar.com founder and CEO Sean O’Toole. The news comes as a report from the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s estimates that the “shadow inventory” of bank-repossessed properties, as well as distressed mortgages facing foreclosure, will take nearly three years to clear at the current sales rate. The amount of California properties transferred to real estate-owned (REO) status during January soared 11.7% over December (pictured above). Properties sold to third parties rose 40.5%, while cancellations rose by 4.3%. The month marked a reversal of December’s data, which showed foreclosure cancellations outnumbered the amount of foreclosures heading back to bank ownership. In January, properties going to REO status (13,922) once again outnumbered foreclosure cancellations (13,853). The total number of properties in the foreclosure process remained near record levels in the state, despite declines in the number of default notices over the last year. This trend is largely due to the increase in the foreclosure timeline – the difference between the date of the initial Notice of Default and the date of the successful trustee sale. This time lag increased from 146 days in August 2008 to 229 days in January 2010, while lenders delay foreclosure in an attempt to work through loan modifications and other alternatives, ForeclosureRadar said. The time to foreclose was up 3.3% in January from December and up 19.6% from a year earlier. Write to Diana Golobay.