California Foreclosure Report — July 2026
The monthly pulse of foreclosure activity across all 58 California counties, computed directly from documents recorded with county recorders. Each edition covers the most recent month and publishes at this same URL, straight from the recorded documents.
Counts of distinct recorded documents; month-over-month and year-over-year computed on a same-counties basis.
The Headline
California recorded 2,499 new foreclosure starts — lenders recording a first notice of default — in July 2026. Starts ran-5% versus June and -11% versus July 2025; June’s final count was 2,634 starts, essentially level with the months before it.
The story underneath is rotation, not eruption: Sacramento (+39%), San Francisco (+44%) and Ventura (+41%) accelerated while Riverside cooled 9% after its June jump, and Los Angeles held near its usual volume. Inland counties continue to generate starts at a faster clip relative to housing stock than the coast.
County Pulse — Foreclosure Starts, July 2026
Distinct notices of default recorded per county, with month-over-month change. High-volume counties shown; small counties are excluded to avoid noisy percentages.
| County | Starts (Jul) | MoM | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 608 | -5% | Steady |
| Riverside | 248 | -9% | Steady |
| San Bernardino | 228 | +6% | Steady |
| Sacramento | 164 | +39% | Building pressure |
| San Diego | 157 | +10% | Steady |
| Orange | 122 | -5% | Steady |
| Kern | 89 | -3% | Steady |
| Contra Costa | 82 | -1% | Steady |
| Fresno | 78 | +11% | Steady |
| San Joaquin | 70 | -3% | Steady |
| Solano | 59 | +28% | Building pressure |
| Ventura | 52 | +41% | Building pressure |
| Stanislaus | 50 | +22% | Building pressure |
| Santa Clara | 45 | -10% | Steady |
| Tulare | 38 | -12% | Steady |
| San Francisco | 36 | +44% | Building pressure |
| Placer | 32 | -16% | Steady |
| Sonoma | 26 | -4% | Steady |
| El Dorado | 25 | 0% | Steady |
| Shasta | 24 | -20% | Cooling |
| San Mateo | 10 | · | Steady |
| Merced | 4 | · | Steady |
What It Means for Buyers & Investors
Steady starts mean the opportunity concentrates early in the pipeline: the months between a notice of default and a scheduled sale are when owners still hold options — and equity. Watch Sacramento and Ventura into August; both are accelerating off a stable statewide base.
Every filing behind this report is a searchable property in Properant — owner of record, open loans, estimated equity, and the full recorded timeline — updated as counties record.
Methodology
Properant processes documents recorded with all 58 California county recorders. Foreclosure starts are distinct recorded notices of default; auction notices are distinct recorded notices of trustee sale. Foreclosure starts count distinct recorded Notice of Default documents, not parcel rows — a single filing affecting multiple parcels counts as one start — and counts are deduplicated across delivery channels. Statewide totals from this methodology land within roughly half a percent of independently published industry figures for the first half of 2026 (within 4% for every month tested back to January 2025).
Press & data inquiries: support@properant.com — county-level breakdowns and historical series available on request.
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