The jump in regional figures was led by a more-than-two-fold increase in La Crescenta filings, including notices of default, trustee sale and foreclosure.
A total of 412 La Crescenta homes received one or more notices in 2009, up from 188 the year prior, according to RealtyTrac.
The next highest increase was in La Cañada Flintridge, where total filings jumped 90%, according to the data.
Foreclosure-related filings in Glendale grew by 58%, and in Burbank 52% more homes received the notices last year than in 2008, according to the report.
The large increases in filings, compared with California and the nation, indicate that homeowners who previously were able to weather economic hardship struggled with mortgage payments in 2009, said Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for RealtyTrac.
“It seems like forces are spreading to higher-priced markets, as well as they’re spreading because unemployment is very high almost across the board nationwide,” Blomquist said.
While many homeowners may have faced more hardship in 2008, the effects of the economic slide may have set in slower for homeowners in more affluent areas, like La Cañada Flintridge, said Bruce Ackerman, president and chief executive of the Valley Economic Alliance.
“I think the recession is hitting everybody,” Ackerman said. “It’s just taking a little bit longer on some of them. Somebody who’s got a higher income, typically they’re going to have a little bit more in savings so they’re going to have a little bit more staying power, but eventually it’s going to run out.”
