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Bay Area Foreclosures Skyrocket

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

TAMPA - Bay area homeowners continue to struggle to make their mortgage payments and are increasingly losing their homes to foreclosure, according to the California-based research company RealtyTrac.

There were 14,960 foreclosure filings in the Tampa metro area during the second quarter. That's up 27 percent from the previous quarter and 159 percent from the same period last year. Now, one in every 87 households is receiving a foreclosure filing.

The area's foreclosure rate ranked 17th among the nation's top 100 metro areas.

Statewide, the foreclosure rate was even more severe. Florida's 109,433 foreclosure filings in the quarter was second-highest in the nation behind California and represented an increase of nearly 25 percent from last quarter. At that rate, one in every 78 households received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Florida's foreclosure rate was fourth-highest in the nation.

"Florida is one of five or six states driving the foreclosure rates nationwide," said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for RealtyTrac. "Other states are seeing foreclosure problems, too, but not nearly as much as Florida and other states that saw a speculative and unsustainable real estate market during the boom years."

In the Tampa Bay area, more foreclosure filings came from Hillsborough County than other area counties. Hillsborough had 6,310 filings in the second quarter, while Pinellas saw 4,766, Pasco had 2,535 and Hernando had 1,349.

Nevada, California and Arizona continue to post the top foreclosure rates in the country.

Among metros, the California locales of Stockton and Riverside-San Bernardino ranked first and second in foreclosure rates. The highest-ranked Florida city was Fort Lauderdale at No. 6. In addition to the Tampa area, Florida metro areas among the top 20 were Miami, which ranked 10th; Orlando, 13th; Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, 14th; and Palm Beach, 18th.

Nationwide, one in every 171 households received a foreclosure filing during the second quarter, according to RealtyTrac's report. Foreclosure filings were reported on 739,714 properties. That's up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 121 percent from the same quarter in 2007.

RealtyTrac's statistics include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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