Mohave.net

This article has some interesting California stats:

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=6291

Double-digit increase in foreclosure sales statewide

September 12, 2007 4:59am

• Realty speculators walk away from $1.71 billion in mortgage loans
• ‘Rampant speculation … played a leading role’

A total of 9,477 properties – with a total loan value of $3.86 billion – were sold at auction in California last month, a 10.4 percent increase over July, according to figures compiled by ForeclosureRadar, a Discovery Bay-based foreclosure information service.

Speculator-owned properties (non-owner occupied properties) accounted for $1.71 billion of that total and represented 44.3 percent, or 4,199 of the properties sold at foreclosure auction.

“Many blame subprime lending for our current real estate crisis, but rampant speculation, even by those with great credit, played a leading role,” says Sean O’Toole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.com……

• Almost all (90.3%) of all foreclosure sales in California in August were for homes purchased or refinanced in 2005 and 2006.

• Of properties sold at auction, 95% went back to the bank – for a total of 9,015 properties with a loan value of $3.7 billion.