3 valley counties, Detroit tops in U.S. foreclosures

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The Northern San Joaquin Valley and the Detroit metropolitan region had the highest percentage of properties facing foreclosure during 2007, according to statistics released today by RealtyTrac.

San Joaquin County and Detroit each had about 4.9 percent of their properties in some stage of foreclosure. Merced County had 4.8 percent and Stanislaus County had 4.4 percent. That's more than four times higher than the national average, which was barely more than 1 percent.

Tuolumne County, by com- parison, had about 0.7 percent of its properties threatened with foreclosure last year.

Housing slump taking toll on rentals

San Joaquin, Merced and Stanislaus counties combined had 21,667 properties in some state of foreclosure last year.

Other foreclosure hot spots were the Las Vegas metropolitan area, 4.2 percent; Riverside and San Bernardino counties, 3.8 percent; and Sacramento County, 3.2 percent.

"Most of the metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates were either cities like Stockton and Las Vegas, which experienced meteoric growth and unsustainable price appreciation over the past few years, or cities like Detroit, which are undergoing a more widespread economic downturn along with higher unemployment rates," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.