Despite the recession, our distressed property counts have decreased lately!  Realty Trac reveals that properties in the 94611 zip code are actually down over the past two months, by nearly six percent.  That’s doesn’t make much sense, right?

Dig a little deeper for the real news, though.  Among all homes headed to or legally foreclosed, some 576 are currently owned by banks.  Two months ago only 519 were bank-owned properties, which means 11 percent more are in trouble.  There’s the foreclosure news we were looking for.

In the chart above, let’s take a look at how Oakland and Alameda County are doing these days.  The picture isn’t pretty, as overall distressed properties have shot up nearly 10 percent at the city level and four percent for the the county.

While our zip’s distressed property levels are lower, nearly six percent of total housing units are distressed.  That level, based on 2000 census data, is likely due to higher overall home ownership in 94611 versus the city and county overall.

For residents of Montclair and Piedmont, the situation seems to be a gradual and slightly hidden creep for now.  If more folks lose jobs and can ill-afford their mortgages, we’ll surely see the grim reaper appear over the coming months.