Florida Grabs Second Spot for Highest Foreclosures

Posted on October 23rd, 2008 in Arizona, Florida

Closely following the state of Nevada in terms of foreclosure rate, Florida is certainly getting pummeled and beaten by the crisis in the housing industry. According to reports released by RealtyTrac, the Sunshine State leapfrogged ahead of California and Arizona based on its month-over-month foreclosure activity, placing it at the #2 spot. Compared to last August, Florida foreclosure listings has increased by 9 percent.

Miami, Florida

In addition, there was also 44 percent increase in year-over-year foreclosure activity, with one filing for every 178 homes. Fort Lauderdale topped the list of metropolitan cities with the highest foreclosures with 18,316 filings. This figure is 17.7 percent more last August.

On the other hand, Miami placed at the 13th spot with 14,050 foreclosure filings. It was a 7.93 percent drop from the previous quarter but a 37.3 percent increase from last year. Palm Beach came in at the 19th spot with 7,515 filings, up by 5.25 percent compared to the second quarter and 65.3 percent from the third quarter of last year.

The good news is ? national foreclosure rate for September declined by about 12 percent compared to August, with one filing for every 475 homes. Comparing it to last year, the foreclosure activity across the nation actually jumped by 21 percent.

According to the online marketer, the 12 percent decline can be attributed to the numerous state laws which were passed to slow down the foreclosure crisis. There were states that required lenders to notify the troubled borrowers several times before proceeding with a foreclosure filing while there were states that extended the number of months a distressed homeowner can negotiate with their lenders.

Last October 3, a $700 billion bailout program was approved to address the crisis in the financial market, which is tied to the housing industry. Despite this, experts and analysts are still worried that the collapse in the finance sector will result to more houses for sale.

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