Los Angeles, CA, September 06, 2008 – PropertyShark.com, the premier real estate data site, today released its monthly report covering first-time residential foreclosures in Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle and New York City for August 2008.

Key Four-City Findings (Request report for details and charts):

• New York City Foreclosures reach three-year highs; Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle all up: Foreclosures in New York City (383) reached the highest value since we started tracking foreclosures (spring of 2005), predominantly due to Queens. Los Angeles (up 159%), Miami (up 72%), and Seattle (up 27%) have seen a significant increase in new foreclosures compared to August 2007. However, all three regions saw a slight decrease compared to July 2008.
• 73% of Queen’s foreclosure auctions were unsuccessful: From July 2007 to July 2008, 73% of Queen’s foreclosure auctions were unsuccessful and went back to the lender. Out of the 73%, almost ¾ have still not been resold and are still in the lender’s possession.
• Los Angeles zip codes in the San Fernando Valley crack the top 5: Of the top 15 zip codes for trustee sales in Los Angeles, zip codes in the San Fernando Valley cracked the top 5, breaking the stranglehold that Lancaster and Palmdale had on the top zip codes for trustee sales.
• Foreclosed owners in Los Angeles paid almost twice current values: Owners of Los Angeles properties facing trustee sales in August originally paid almost twice what similar properties sold for in July of this year. For example: Zip code 93535 (paid on average $303,088, now selling for average of $152,614), zip code 93534 (paid $303,733, now $153,584), zip code 91342 (paid $520,519, now $326,798), zip code 93550 (paid $329,585, now $171,837).

“Over the last year, a staggering 73% of properties at foreclosure auctions in Queens went back to the lender, and almost 75% of those properties have still not sold on the open market,”, stated Bill Staniford, CEO of PropertyShark.com.

Los Angeles County

• Trustee Sales: The number of new Los Angeles foreclosures dropped 18% in August 2008 compared to the previous month. Despite the monthly improvement, the number is 159% higher than in August 2007.
• Los Angeles Trouble Spots: San Fernando Valley zip codes in Sylmar and Pacoima took the 3rd and 4th spot for new trustee sales this month, breaking the stranglehold the Antelope Valley (Palmdale/Lancaster) had on the top 5 zip codes for Los Angeles foreclosures.

“Compared to what the average property is currently being sold for, many people facing foreclosure paid almost double the price for their homes in the same Los Angeles neighborhoods.”, stated Ashleigh Rose Clark, Data Acquisition Manager at PropertyShark.com

Miami Dade County

• Foreclosure Auctions: There were 994 residential foreclosure auctions scheduled in Miami-Dade County during August 2008. This is a decrease of 10% from July 2008, but 72% higher than August 2007.

Seattle (King County)

• In August 2008, there were 175 new residential trustee sales scheduled in Seattle (King County), a 9% decrease from July 2008 (193), but a 27% increase from August 2007.

New York City (five boroughs)

• New Foreclosure Auctions: Foreclosures in New York City continued to grow this month, reaching the highest value since we started to track foreclosures in the spring of 2005. The current number is 13% higher than last month (338), and 53% higher than in August 2007 (250).
• Boroughs Overview: In obvious contrast to the other four boroughs, each experiencing a decrease, Queens stood alone recording a large increase in August 2008 compared to July 2008. The current number (254) is up 113% from August 2007, and up 43% from July 2008, setting a two-year high for Queens. All the other boroughs experienced an improvement in the number of new foreclosures compared to July 2008. Brooklyn was down 29%, Manhattan by 21%, the Bronx by 17%, and Staten Island down 9%.

Real estate investors can browse current foreclosure listings for the following areas:

• Miami Foreclosures
• New Jersey Foreclosures
• NYC Foreclosures
• San Francisco Foreclosures
• Seattle Foreclosures

Press may request a copy of the report by contacting Brian Scully at 718.408.4985 or visiting PropertyShark BlogCenter

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