Florida foreclosures slow in October

Florida experienced the first year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity since July 2006 – down 4 percent, year-over-year, in October, according to RealtyTrac.
 

Still, the state posted the third-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 168 housing units going into default.

October saw 51,911 Florida properties file for foreclosure, down nearly 6 percent from the previous month, according to the Irvine, Calif.-based online marketplace for foreclosures.
 

“It’s not that the economy is so much better and that everyone is getting jobs, it’s that the banks are more willing to work things out,” said Scott Coloney, who leads the Foreclosure Response Team in Fort Lauderdale. “I don’t think the banks want the houses back, and that’s probably why it’s going down. It’s like hot potato.”
 

Coloney said his company has been working with lenders’ loss mitigation departments, which are granting extensions, giving homeowners who face foreclosure the time to conduct a short sale.
 

And, while at first blush it might appear that the foreclosure tide is turning, RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a news release that “the fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn – high-risk mortgages, negative equity and unemployment – continue to loom over any nascent recovery.”
 

In the tri-county area, Miami-Dade County saw 7,741 homes, or one in every 126, fall into foreclosure last month. In Broward, there were 6,797 homes, or one in every 118, going into default. Palm Beach fared best, with 3,350 homes, or one in every 191, going into foreclosure.
 

Only Nevada – which experienced a 26 percent decline in foreclosure activity month over month – and California – which experienced just a 1 percent month-over-month decline – had higher foreclosure rates than Florida.
 

Nationwide, 332,292 homes fell into foreclosure in October, down 3 percent from the previous month, but up nearly 19 percent from October 2008.
 

The decline in foreclosure rates follows Tuesday’s news that sales of existing homes and condos rose in the third quarter, both in Florida and nationwide.
 

Still, prices remain significantly depressed. A report released Monday by Zillow found that South Florida homeowners continued to drown in negative equity, with more than 46 percent, or 387,157 of all single-family homes, under water at the end of the third quarter.
 

Even there, however, was a glimmer of hope, as the number was down slightly from the 47 percent, or 393,473 homes, under water in the second quarter.
 

Last week, President Barack Obama extended the first-time homebuyer credit, leading to speculation that it will help to push more potential homebuyers off the fence, stimulating home sales even further.