Foreclosure activity in Florida dropped by 12% from March to April, according to ForclosureDataOnline.com.
In April, there were 8,224 foreclosures, while March had 9,353. Since the fourth quarter of 2010, foreclosure activity in Florida has fallen 47%, the website said.
The city that saw the biggest change in monthly foreclosures was St. Petersburg, with 23% fewer foreclosed properties. Other cities that were also down this month were Kissimmee at 16%, Tampa at 15%, West Palm Beach at 14.6%, Orlando at 14%, and Miami at 8.5%.
Jacksonville was the only major city to see a monthly increase in foreclosure activity, up 1.4% from March to April.
One of the main reasons cited for the slowdown in foreclosure activity was the robo-signing foreclosure documentation problems that occurred last fall.
Due to some repossessed homes being rushed through the process by inexperienced newly hired personnel, lenders have created stricter standards that need to be enforced which has slowed down the process.
The slowdown has also been compounded because Florida is a judicial state, which requires a court to approve the foreclosure. Instead of taking four months, the website said it is taking 17 months to process a property from when it receives its initial notice of default until it is put up for auction.
According to the website, these delays reduced the number of homes taken back by banks in the first three months this year, resulting in fewer properties entering the foreclosure process.
