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Florida 3rd, Nevada 1st In July Foreclosures

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By TED JACKOVICS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

TAMPA - Florida jumped to third nationwide in the rate of foreclosures in July, a report released Wednesday by housing research firm RealtyTrac says.

In the previous three months, Florida had ranked fourth nationwide for foreclosure rates.

July's numbers show that one in every 186 residential properties in Florida received either a notice for mortgage default, auction sale or bank repossession, RealtyTrac said.

For metropolitan areas, RealtyTrac said the Tampa Bay area ranked 27th nationwide in July. There was one foreclosure filing for every 219 households, the company said.

In raw numbers, Hillsborough County had 3,057 foreclosure filings in July; Pinellas, 1,581; Pasco, 881; and Hernando, 399.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings were reported on 272,171 properties in July. That's 8 percent higher than June and 55 percent higher than July 2007.

Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate in July, with one filing for every 106 households. California ranked second, with one filing for every 182 properties.

"What's happening in Florida is really similar to what's happening in California and Nevada," said Daren Blomquist, communications manager for RealtyTrac. "The market got ahead of itself in the early 2000s to 2005. It was somewhat speculative, and housing prices shot up faster than incomes."

At the same time, investors were buying properties, which added to the volatility, Blomquist said.

"All of that came crashing down," he said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com.

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