The Tampa Bay area was hit harder by the foreclosure crisis in August than the rest of the state and the nation.
Foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were up 26 percent from last year and 22 percent from the previous month, according to Calif.-based RealtyTrac. That report includes Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties.
While lenders filed fewer new foreclosure cases, more home owners already in the foreclosure received notices that their homes would be auctioned - the final stage of the process.
Several Florida counties had noticeable increases of auction notices, said RealtyTrac Spokesman Daren Blomquist. This may be because courts, which have been swamped with foreclosure cases, are working through the backlog.
Florida as a whole saw filings drop 9 percent from the same month last year but rise 10 percent from last month.
Locally, Pasco County led the pack with a 60 percent increase in total filings, compared to last year and saw a 43 percent monthly jump. Auction notices made up the bulk of filings in Pasco, with 893 notices in August, compared to 365 in July and 178 last year.
The other three area counties saw rises in overall filings, too. August filings were up 3 percent in Hernando, 30 percent in Hillsborough and 10 percent in Pinellas.
Nationally, August filings were down 5 percent from the same month a year ago but up 4 percent from July.
"On the front end, seriously delinquent loans are rolling into foreclosure at an usually slow rate, while on the back end, the dammed-up inventory of properties already in foreclosure is moving in a steady stream rather than a flood - presumably to prevent further erosion of home prices," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
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