Foreclosure activity continues to fade in Southwest Florida this year, staying at pre-recession levels of distressed homeowners.
First-quarter filings were down by 5 percent over the year in the Sarasota-Manatee area, with one in every 545 homes in some stage of the foreclosure process, real estate researcher Attom Data Solutions reported Wednesday.
That ranked the two counties 90th among the 217 largest U.S. metro areas measured, far from the days when Sarasota-Manatee posted one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.
In 2016, local foreclosure activity dropped to its lowest level in 10 years, off 86 percent from recession-era highs and returning to what experts call a normal level of troubled homeowners.
Lenders reported 747 foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — during the January-March period in Sarasota-Manatee, 40 fewer than the year-ago period and down by 98 from fourth-quarter 2016.
But lenders signaled a possible increase. They filed 242 lis pendens — the first step in the foreclosure process — in the recent quarter, 82 more than last year. But not all of those filings will proceed through the process in court.
In Charlotte County, the 243 foreclosure filings were down by 32 percent over the year but up by 16 percent for the quarter. One in every 416 homes there had a foreclosure action.
Florida ranked first in the U.S. with 21,887 filings, but that was 34 percent fewer than last year.
Nationwide, foreclosure filings were reported on 234,508 properties, down by 11 percent from the previous quarter and by 19 percent over the year, to the lowest level since third-quarter 2006. The first-quarter foreclosure activity total was 16 percent below the pre-recession average of 278,912 properties with foreclosure filings each quarter between the first three months of 2006 and third-quarter 2007.
"U.S. foreclosure activity on a quarterly basis first dipped below pre-recession averages in the fourth quarter of last year, and this report shows that trend continuing for the second consecutive quarter," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with Attom. "The number of local markets dropping below pre-recession levels continues to grow."
