Foreclosures are going upscale across the San Diego, Bay Area. Nearly 1,000 homes valued above $730,000 were repossessed by banks in the nine-county region in each of the past two years, according to a Chronicle review of public records compiled by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego research firm. Back in the real estate boom year of 2005, just 42 Bay Area homes valued above $730,000 went into foreclosure; in 2006, the number was 80. Even more striking is the growth of mortgage defaults – the first step in the foreclosure process – in affluent ZIP codes. Mortgage distress has moved upstream in part because of economic conditions such as unemployment and stock losses. Also in play is a different type of risky loan called option ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) that’s just beginning to cause problems.

Experts emphasized that the foreclosure numbers don’t fully reflect the extent of distress at the high end, because for expensive homes, banks are more likely to pursue short sales, in which the homeowner stays put while marketing the home for less than is owed on the mortgage. “Banks take the time on the high end to short-sale properties because they get a higher return and better valuation,” said Pat Lashinsky, CEO of Emeryville’s ZipRealty, a nationwide brokerage. Buyers of high-end homes during the real estate boom years often relied on option ARMs, which allowed them to start off paying just the interest – or even less than the interest, thus adding on to their mortgage balance. Most option ARMs had an initial period of five years before loans recast, causing payments to soar.