|
Article
Courtesy of The St. Petersburg Tomes
By
Paul Owers
May
13, 2009
Foreclosures continue to mount in South Florida and across the country, even as optimism grows that the recession is easing.
Broward County had 10,305 homeowners in some stage of foreclosure in April, more than twice the 4,599 in March and nearly double from a year ago, according to figures being released today by RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif., a foreclosure tracking firm.
Broward has the state's third-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 78 households.
Only Osceola and Lee counties are worse.
Palm Beach County had 2,846 residents in some stage of foreclosure last month, nearly double the 1,509 in March and 44 percent higher than a year ago.
One in every 135 Florida households received a foreclosure filing last month, roughly three times the national average. Nationwide, it was one in every 374 households, the highest monthly rate since RealtyTrac began its report in January 2005.
Many lenders are beginning foreclosure proceedings on past-due loans that had been delayed by recent legislative and industry freezes, RealtyTrac said. The National Short Sale Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., predicts a "tsunami" of more than a million foreclosures during the second quarter.
The Obama administration announced a $75 billion foreclosure rescue plan in March, but the extent of the relief remains unclear.
Foreclosures here and across the nation have skyrocketed during the past few years, a fallout of the housing bust that began in 2006.
The first wave hammered borrowers who took out risky, adjustable-rate mortgages with monthly payments that shot up when interest rates rose. But now increasing job losses are mostly to blame for people losing their homes to lenders.
"I don't think the foreclosure situation will improve until the employment picture improves," said L. Keith White, president of Reinhold P. Wolff Economic Research in Oakland Park.
South Florida's foreclosure outlook likely won't get better until late 2010, after the batch of bad loans gradually is replaced with new mortgages given to qualified buyers, said Mike Larson, a housing analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that the recession was showing signs of ending and that growth should begin by the end of the year. But he cautioned that recovery would be slow and unemployment rates would continue to remain high even after the recession was over.
|