Foreclosure rates throughout the Central Valley were up sharply in January, according to figures released Thursday by First American CoreLogic.
The Merced metropolitan area saw the biggest foreclosure rate, with 6.59 percent of all mortgages falling into foreclosure in January, an increase of 1.77 percentage points compared to January 2009 when the rate was 4.82 percent.
Foreclosure activity in Merced is higher than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.19 percent for January 2009, representing a 3.40 percentage point difference.
