Cambria and Central Coast foreclosures and REO are still on the rise according to the latest statistics and trend information. For San Luis Obispo county as a whole while still above the national average still number half that of the California average. Cambria foreclosures are even lower than the county average but according to Realty Trac’s statistics one out of every 295 housing units received a foreclosure notice in Cambria in August of this year. This compares with 1 out of 95 in the worst hit areas of the county. Analyzing this year’s foreclosure activity data the trend for the last 6 months has definitely been heading higher.

Cambria foreclosure status distribution (meaning what percentage of the properties involved in some form of foreclosure activity are actually only in pre-foreclosure, auction stage or have already been taken back by the bank (REO)) is is not all bad news though. 73% of Cambria foreclosures are still in pre-foreclosure stage meaning they have received notice but the property has not gone to auction yet. This means there is a good chance these homes will be saved by their owners and will never go to auction. The home owners may simply have fallen temporarily behind or they may be able to negotiate a short refinance or loan modification with their lender to rectify the issue. 20% are actually in the auction stage and are set to be sold. Cambria REO (real estate owned) or bank owned properties make up the remaining 7%. So for investors there are obviously still great opportunities available at all stages of the process depending on your personally strategy and resources. If you are considering investing in these types of properties or Cambria REO you may find it interesting to know the following characteristics of foreclosure properties on or coming to the market; the majority of the properties have 3 bedrooms, most common are homes ranging from 1,200 to 1,399 square feet and the highest availability is in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range.

Central Coast foreclosures have definitely affected home prices just like in the rest of the country. Placed on a graph the slide seems quite similar with California as a whole at least until the last few months, when this region now is seeing some turn around at least going by the figures. The median home price in California as reported by CAR (California Realtors Association) now stands at $271,000 (projected) for this year, while areas like Cambria still maintain a median home price of $505,750. Year over year Cambria has still realized a 14.43% decline in the median and this is down from around $700,000 3 years ago. But, new statistics show almost a $100,000 increase in average sales price between July and August of this year! This combined with a number of higher end homes still being sold hopefully means there maybe some sunshine coming out after all.

In California Association of Realtors release of the California Market Forecast for 2010 on October 7th the president of the association as states “California’s housing market continued its strong sales rebound this year, resulting from the continued pace of distressed properties coming to market,” and the CAR Vice President Leslie Appleton Young commented that “With distressed properties accounting for nearly one-third of the sales in 2010, inventory will be relatively lean, under six months during the off-season months, and a roughly four-month supply during the peak season,” and “We expect the median price to decrease slightly through the remainder of 2009 and into next year, then rise before leveling off next summer.” What exactly this means for the Central Coast market and Cambria foreclosures and REO we will have to wait and see. But overall the mood definitely seems to be hopefully and positive for the near future.