These numbers are for Orange County for the month of June, the last complete month available. There was a total of 1,257 Notices of Default recorded for the month. Now before you start thinking that that is a big number, let's remember that there are over 650,000 properties in Orange County. Now that seems more reasonable given the current economy. There were 1,436 Notices of Trustee Sale. That number is bigger because the lenders are starting to clear out some of the properties that have been languishing in various stages of foreclosure. But what is most interesting is the breakdown of single-family resale properties by equity, short, and bank owned status. There were a total of 1,933 recorded sales which broke down surprisingly: there were 320 short sales, 276 bank owned, and (drum roll please...) 1,340 equity sales. While it may feel like every sale is distressed, clearly the statistics do not support that. Also, the median price per square foot is also surprisingly in favor of the equity seller. This would cast doubt on the common belief that now is not a good time for an equity seller because they may have to "give away" their property because of low comparable sales caused by the distressed properties. The median price for equity sales was $289 while short sales were $243 and bank owned came in at $234.
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