VIDEO: Florida Foreclosures Up In July After 10-Month Decline

By  //  August 21, 2015

BREVARD REAL ESTATE NEWS

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BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Florida retains its dubious distinction of being number one in the nation for foreclosure rates.

RealtyTrac’s July 2015 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report finds that foreclosure starts – homeowners receiving their first notice – in Florida climbed 16 percent in July after dropping for 10 consecutive months.

Florida has now been the top state for foreclosures for five months, thanks, in part, to the number of new starts in July. One in every 408 Florida housing units had a foreclosure filing in July – more than 2.5 times the national average.

While Florida is one of only a handful of states to see foreclosure starts increase, however it ranked fifth behind Massachusetts (up 130 percent), New Jersey (up 76 percent), Missouri (up 72 percent) and Wisconsin (up 27 percent).

Market Report: Brevard County’s Real Estate Market Continues To Go UpRelated Story:
Market Report: Brevard County’s Real Estate Market Continues To Go Up

Eight Florida metros were in July’s top 10 for foreclosure rates – homes in some phase of the process: Jacksonville (one in every 310 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Miami (one in every 339 housing units), Lakeland-Winter Haven (one in every 349 housing units), Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond (one in every 358 housing units), Tampa (one in every 375 housing units), Port St. Lucie (one in every 410 housing units), Orlando (one in every 433 housing units) and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville (one in every 437 housing units).

When RealtyTrac narrowed the metro study down to the nation’s 20 largest metro areas, Miami posted the highest foreclosure rate, followed by Tampa, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Mike Pappas
Mike Pappas

“The remnants of our South Florida distressed market are seen in the strong REO numbers – double what they were last year,” says Mike Pappas, CEO and president of the Keyes Company covering the South Florida market.

“The short sales have basically been eliminated and our long judicial system is finally clearing out the last vestiges of these REO properties.”

U.S. FORECLOSURE NUMBER

Nationwide, RealtyTrac found 124,910 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – up 7 percent from the previous month and up 14 percent year-to-year. July was the fifth consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in overall foreclosure activity following 53 consecutive months of decreases.

Daren Blomquist
Daren Blomquist

“The increase in overall foreclosure activity over the last five months has been driven primarily by rapidly rising bank repossessions, which in July reached the highest level since January 2013,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

“Meanwhile (U.S.) foreclosure starts in July were at the lowest level since November 2005 – a nearly 10-year low that demonstrates the recent rise in bank repossessions represents banks flushing out old distress rather than new distress being pushed into the pipeline.

Blomquist says its clear older distressed properties are being cleared out because the process took an average of 629 days in the second quarter – the “longest in any quarter since we began tracking in … 2007,” Blomquist says. “It’s also evident that the recent surge in REOs is, in fact, clearing out more of the bad bubble-era loans from the so-called shadow inventory.”

According to RealtyTrac, 61 percent of loans still in the foreclosure process were originated during the housing bubble years of 2004 to 2008, down from 68 percent last year and 75 percent two years ago.”

Florida retains its dubious distinction of being number one in the nation for foreclosure rates. (Shutterstock image)
Florida retains its dubious distinction of being number one in the nation for foreclosure rates. (Shutterstock image)