Foreclosure Rate Rises 138% in County

California was hit by a large increase in foreclosures on real estate loans in 1991, and Orange County did not escape the damage, according to a report issued Friday.

Institutional lenders such as banks, thrifts and investment funds filed foreclosure notices against $491 million worth of loans in the county last year, up 138% from $206.4 million in 1990, the third-highest level in the state, said Nima Nattagh, market research analyst with TRW--Redi Property Data in Riverside.

But most of the borrowing in the county in the past few years has involved residential properties--the most stable area of the real estate market. With 11% of the total institutional real estate loans issued in the state last year, the county accounted for just 8% of the foreclosures.

In Los Angeles County, where a significant amount of commercial development loans were made last year, the foreclosed loan figure quadrupled to $1.9 billion, from $491.2 million in 1990.

Los Angeles County loans accounted for 29% of the statewide total of $197.2 billion last year, Nattagh said, while foreclosures there made up nearly a third of the statewide total of $5.9 billion.

San Diego County registered a 171% increase in foreclosure volume, to $652.4 million from $240.9 million. And with just 8% of the total loan volume in 1991, San Diego County had 11% of the foreclosures.