Defaults Rising in California

Slowing price appreciation in several California housing markets has produced growing defaults in the state, according to ForeclosureS.com, a Fair Oaks, Calif.-based investment advisory firm.Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com, said notices of default totaled 10,247 in major Southern California counties in the third quarter, but only 3,150 in eight of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. "Defaults in California's southland are moving off the historic baseline because the housing markets there are finally cooling down," she said. Defaults are still low in the Bay Area because their price correction "had just barely begun," the company said. ForeclosureS.com can be found on the Web at http://www.foreclosures.com.