OC Median Home Price on the Rise

According to the California Association of REALTORS®, the median price of an existing Orange County home (excluding condos) moved back above the $500,000 mark in September, while the pace of sales remained sluggish. The median price was $510,530, a nearly $11,000 or 2.2% increase from August, and a 2.8% increase from the prices homes here were selling at a year earlier. The area’s median sales price now is up about 21% from the recent bottom of the market, seen in January 2009. Prices are still off more than 31% from the peak of the market, when the median sales price for an OC home topped $747,000 in April 2007. The number of OC home sales in September was up 1.6% from a month earlier. Sales were down 10.4% from a year earlier. Including condos, the median price of an OC home sold in September was $445,000, a jump of more than $16,000 or 3.7% from a year earlier.

Foreclosure Moratorium Blues

In late September and early October some lenders and servicers began voluntarily halting foreclosures in select states while they reviewed their foreclosure processes.
So far, only Bank of America has extended its foreclosure moratorium to California, where the vast majority of foreclosures are conducted without a court order. Foreclosures in the other 23 states are processed through the court system.
Non-judicial foreclosures in California, however, do have legal requirements that lenders must follow. For example, California law requires that lenders for certain mortgage loans made between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2007, attempt to make contact with borrowers to discuss options for avoiding foreclosure at least 30 days before filing a notice of default. Lenders also must sign a declaration in the notice of default stating that they tried to contact the borrower, made contact with the borrower, or fall within an exception (such as a bankruptcy filing).
The lenders and servicers that have placed their foreclosure moratorium on properties in the 23 states where courts are involved in the foreclosure process include: Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Litton Loan Servicing, Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit, JPMorgan Chase, and PNC Financial.
These lenders/servicers have only temporarily halted their foreclosures while they review their foreclosure process. This is in response to findings that questioned whether some lenders/servicers were following the correct procedures to foreclose on a property.
This halting of foreclosures is a voluntary action taken on the part of these lenders/servicers and has not been mandated by either the states or the federal government.
Some members have begun to report the immediate impact of this moratorium on transactions that involve foreclosed properties. Delays in escrow and the removal of listed foreclosures are temporary results of this moratorium.
The immediate impact on the market will be the slowing of home sales, which could put upward pressure on home prices in the short term. The long-term effect on the market is uncertain at this point as it depends how long the moratorium remains in place.
Assuming the moratorium is lifted in the next month, the flow of REOs to the market should resume, but the uncertainty created by the moratorium may cause hesitation on the part of buyers.
Federal agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Housing Administration, and the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have asked lenders and servicers to review their foreclosure processes. This review would apply to all states including those like California where the vast majority of foreclosures are non-judicial.
The participating lenders and servicers believe their internal review processes should take anywhere from a few weeks to 30 days to complete.