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Florida 2nd In 2007 Foreclosures
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Published: January 29, 2008
TAMPA - We're No. 2 in the nation.
And while that sounds good, it's not.
Florida ranked second in the country for its 2007 foreclosure rate, according to data released Monday from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosure activity.
More than 2 percent of households in the Sunshine State entered some stage of foreclosure during the year, with a total 279,325 filings on 165,291 properties, the research company said.
"We definitely did see a jump in Florida near the end of the year," said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for RealtyTrac. "December was up 7 percent from November, and the fourth quarter was up 5 percent from the third quarter. While that doesn't sound like a big percentage, some other states saw decreases near the end of the year."
Those decreases, Blomquist said, helped other states with generally high rates, such as California, Ohio and Michigan keep their year-end foreclosure rates below Florida's.
Nevada ranked first in the nation for its foreclosure rate. According to RealtyTrac, 3 percent of households in the state fell into foreclosure in 2007. Nevada held the No. 1 spot during every month of the year.
The other leading states trailing Nevada and Florida, were Michigan at No. 3, California at No. 4 and Colorado at No. 5.
Florida's numbers in December didn't look good, either. The state had 31,219 filings, a 7 percent increase from November and a 275 percent increase from December 2006.
Closer to home, Tampa Bay's year-end foreclosure rate mirrored the state's. Nearly 2 percent of homeowners filed for foreclosure, RealtyTrac said. There were 23,965 properties to fall into foreclosure in 2007 in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties. That's nearly double 2006's number: 12,262.
The foreclosure report comes on the heels of some other not-so-uplifting recent housing reports.
Just last week, state and national Realtor groups released data that showed that prices dropped every month of the year in Florida and in Tampa Bay.
The yearlong price decline was the longest since the Great Depression.
Some economists revised their estimates for a turnaround in the Bay area from late 2008 to mid-2009.
Moody's Economy.com went as far as to predict Tampa area prices will fall an additional 18 percent before stabilizing.
The median sales price for homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was $194,200 in December, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
That is down 14 percent from $226,800 during the same month last year.
Home sales fell even further, 32 percent in December compared with the same month last year. There were 1,761 sales of single-family homes in December, down from 2,607 a year ago.
Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.
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