Report Finds “Massive” Transfer of Wealth in Post-Foreclosure Oakland

Posted under Resources on July 13, 2012

From the Urban Strategies Council

A new report released today by Urban Strategies Council illustrates the massive transfer of wealth in post-foreclosure Oakland from local homeowners to out of town speculators. The study shows that of the 10,508 completed foreclosures in the city since 2007, 62 percent (6,523) were either still owned by a financial institution or had been acquired by an investor. As of October 2011, speculators had acquired 42 percent of all properties that went through foreclosure in Oakland, many buying up large swaths or property with cash.

The report: Who Owns Your Neighborhood—The Role of Investors in Post-Foreclosure Oakland, provides many new details on what has transpired in Oakland in the wake of the foreclosure crisis; the report is available at www.infoalamedacounty.org.

Findings in the new report show that only 10 out of the top 30 foreclosure investors in Oakland are actually based in the city. Moreover, 93 percent of all investor acquisitions are concentrated in the low-income flatland neighborhoods of Oakland—the same neighborhoods targeted by predatory lenders that, in part, fueled the crisis. The new report argues that the disproportionate concentration of this activity among Oakland’s most disenfranchised neighborhoods warrants the immediate attention of policy makers, local government officials, and residents.

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