The still-rising home foreclosure rate continues to bring bad
news to San Benito County’s real estate market.
Hollister – The still-rising home foreclosure rate continues to bring bad news to San Benito County’s real estate market.
The county saw 193 foreclosure filings in July, August and September 2007, according to the real estate data firm RealtyTrac. That’s almost four times the 55 filings in the same period of 2006 and more than double the 90 filings during April, May and June of this year. With 81 foreclosures, August had more filings than any month in 2005, 2006 or 2007.
As more and more homeowners find themselves in financial trouble, the local housing market is suffering, too. According to REInfoLink, which tracks home sales in San Benito County, sales closed on 16 homes in September, down from 21 sales in August and less than half the 37 closed sales in September 2006.
Mortgages obtained in the past few years are still resetting to higher rates, said Dee Brown, a real estate agent with ReMax Platinum Properties.
But the average sale price is actually creeping upward. Sales averaged $555,005 in July, $579,310 in August (not including the sale of a $9.8 million home, likely the most expensive in San Benito County history) and $581,406 in September.
San Benito’s foreclosure numbers reflect the nationwide trend, Blomquist said, with foreclosures peaking in August and then falling off slightly in September.
“It’s not surprising that there’s a little bit of a pullback, but it’s not a long-term, downward trend,” Blomquist said.
Permanent recovery probably won’t start until the end of 2008 at the earliest, he said.
“It’s hard to predict that,” Blomquist said. “Some people are predicting more like 2010.”
Karl Skow of Hollister’s Pacific Finance Co. said fewer homeowners are coming into his office with mortgage problems, most likely due to greater awareness and education.
Brown said she’s heard the rental market is also bustling, as potential homebuyers stay in rentals and wait for the market to improve.
RealtyTrac doesn’t study the rental market, Blomquist said, but anecdotal evidence from real estate investors suggests Brown is right.
