The Oregonian's lead story today confirmed what many of us have been saying for weeks. Foreclosures in all of Portland Metro--Multnomah, washington and Clackamas counties--may jump up 9% in the third quarter of 2009, about 38 Notice of Default filings per day.

Worse, these filngs aren't just for sub-prime loans. We're seeing default notices against prime, Alt-A (less than prime but better than sub-prime) as well as sub-prime borrowers, who are facing some serious resets.

The local market has seen a decent uptick in sales. Most of these are for first-timers taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. About 55% of sales are short sales. That said, sales aren't happening fast enough for a lot of people.

Two other benchmarks. Foreclosures have finally shot past the previous record set in the 1980's. Also, IHS Global Insights now ranks the Pacific Northwest as the sixth most overvalued real estate market in the country.

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