Trustee sales divided by Total sales per quarter for LA and Ventura County

Here is just a quick chart I generated for trustee sales by quarter divided by the total number of quarterly sales as reported by Dataquick.

Ventura County Trustee Sales for June 2009

Here are the trustee sales graphs from January 2007 through June 2009. Investor activity is still significant and I know of a couple organized groups working the trustee sales pretty hard. There is at the very least a temporary lull in inventory on the low end that investors are rushing to fill. The tax credit, sub-5% interest rates (I don't think the sub-5% interest rate effect on demand can be overstated) and seasonality have created tremendous demand. Supply is being constrained by the now expired moratoriums and the expectations of many homeowners who would normally short sale thinking they will get a loan modification. With the increase in REO inventory and the servicers working through the loan mod requests to accept or deny borrowers the inventory situation should improve going into the second half of the year.

Los Angeles Trustee sales for June 2009

Here are the trustee sales graphs for Los Angeles County from January 2007 through June 2009. Investor activity is lighter in Los Angeles County relative to the other counties I've featured suggesting that either there are more undesirable areas or that investor groups haven't organized to the scale necessary to match the increased level of sales. Sales increased dramatically month over month and even a small increase in July will put us at the record levels of last summer.

Updated San Diego Trustee Sales for June 2009

Here are the total trustee sales for San Diego from January 2007 to June 2009. Clearly the investors are jumping in right now and at the very least thinking this is a good time to make some money. If we get another solid month to month increase in July we will back to levels not seen since last summer.

Orange County Trustee sales for June 2009

Here are the trustee sales for Orange County from January 2007 through June 2009. There is clearly a high level of investor activity in Orange County. With almost thirty percent of trustee sales going back to investor over a sustained period of time. Some of that in my opinion has to be more speculation then buying on fundamentals. Competition at the trustee sales looks to be very intense.

San Diego Trustee Sales June 2009

Since everyone is watching trustee sales so much I decided to generate the San Diego version of the trustee sale chart that I generate from ForeclosureRadar. I added in a new chart showing the percentage of 3rd party sales relative to total sales for the month. Note June sales are through Friday the 26th.

People are looking at the market and wondering if the bottom is in, at least on the low end. We have a tax credit, low inventory on the low end, around 5% interest rates and high use of FHA borrowers. I think the a lot of people "bum rushed" the market at the same time causing this phenomenon. The investors see the low inventory and new higher supply of trustee sales and see at the very least a temporary opportunity to get out ahead of the market and make some money. While I do feel this is an interim bounce on the way to the bottom I think watching what investors across the state are doing will be a leading indicator for what the market is doing. When/If prices start falling (on the low end) and/or supply builds again the investor activity should moderate as they will be forced to shy away from some of the more marginal deals that I feel they are buying today.

Note: I have added a foreclosure research link to the site, see here.

Orange County Trustee Sales Graph

Since Calculated Risk and Mathew Padilla were talking about Orange County Trustee Sales I generated this chart to fruther discussion. It appears investor activity is much greater in OC versus Los Angeles or Ventura. Note sales for June 2009 are through last Friday.

Note: I have added a foreclosure research link to the site, see here.