Where foreclosures are worst

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There's nothing like a good map to show information, again from today's L.A. Times story. So what does this mean? Well, clearly foreclosures are spreading beyond the outlying areas (such as Lancaster or Palmdale) and starting to hit more middle-class and even affluent communities in Orange County and the western San Fernando Valley:

...foreclosures are spreading rapidly into areas that were virtually untouched a year ago. The five ZIP Codes with the sharpest rise were in Altadena, Costa Mesa, Pico Rivera, Anaheim and Long Beach...

Many of the homeowners in default will be able to keep their homes, but the odds of them doing so are diminishing. An estimated 41% of those in default are able to avoid foreclosure by bringing their payments current, refinancing or selling their home to pay off their loan, DataQuick reported. A year ago, 71% of homeowners in default were able to recover.

In Southern California, Riverside County saw the biggest jump in default notices, up 119% from a year ago.

Orange County was a close second, with a 116% increase from the fourth quarter of 2006.

San Bernardino saw a 106% increase, San Diego was up 95%, and Ventura 89%.

Los Angeles County fared better than other Southern California counties, with an 83% increase in defaults.

Finally, from the DQNews website, here's a table summarizing how all California counties are faring:

Notices of Default
houses and condos

County/Region	2006Q4	2007Q4	%Chg
Los Angeles	7,445	13,613	82.8%
Orange	1,983	4,276	115.6%
San Diego	3,150	6,151	95.3%
Riverside	4,528	9,913	118.9%
San Bernardino	3,538	7,288	106.0%
Ventura	794	1,504	89.4%
Imperial	167	401	140.1%
SoCal	21,605	43,146	99.7%
San Francisco	173	334	93.1%
Alameda	1,173	2,573	119.4%
Contra Costa	1,511	3,805	151.8%
Santa Clara	874	2,162	147.4%
San Mateo	339	625	84.4%
Marin	101	224	121.8%
Solano	781	1,793	129.6%
Sonoma	323	968	199.7%
Napa	87	220	152.9%
Bay Area	5,362	12,704	136.9%
Santa Cruz	134	312	132.8%
Santa Barbara	298	563	88.9%
San Luis Obispo	119	291	144.5%
Monterey	291	1,048	260.1%
Coast	842	2,214	162.9%
Sacramento	2,635	5,807	120.4%
San Joaquin	1,293	3,746	189.7%
Placer	540	850	57.4%
Kern	1,044	2,631	152.0%
Fresno	1,059	2,103	98.6%
Madera	130	375	188.5%
Merced	466	1,413	203.2%
Tulare	427	817	91.3%
Yolo	188	363	93.1%
El Dorado	199	304	52.8%
Stanislaus	909	2,594	185.4%
Kings	56	134	139.3%
San Benito	56	232	314.3%
Yuba	130	302	132.3%
Colusa	26	65	150.0%
Sutter	87	210	141.4%
Central Valley	9,245	21,946	137.4%
Mountains*	215	444	106.5%
North Calif*	725	1,096	51.2%
Statewide	37,994	81,550	114.6%
* includes additional counties