Foreclosures: Santa Monica vs. Southern California

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, some 34 percent of the sales in Southern California for the month of August were of foreclosed properties.
In contrast, my weekly statistical analysis of Santa Monica on Monday showed that only 2 of 112 single-family homes and 9 of 196 condos & townhomes on the market were foreclosure properties.    Santa Monica in particular and the Westside in general are very different from Southern California as a whole.  Buyers need to calibrate their expectations on the basis of local market conditions, not the newspaper headlines.