Florida's Foreclosure Outlook Still Ugly

The number of foreclosure filings initiated last year in South Florida's tri-county area failed to hit the 100,000 mark, but it didn't miss by much, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com. At the end of the second quarter of 2009, foreclosure notices were being filed in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties at an annual rate of 100,000-plus. But momentum slowed "just enough" in the third and fourth quarters to fall just short of that psychologically significant benchmark, according to the report. For the year as a whole, more than 97,000 lis pendens, or notices of default were initiated against properties in the three counties, a 29% increase compared to the nearly 76,000 actions filed in 2008. By comparison, "only" 32,000 notices were filed in 2007. "The newfound willingness of lenders to suddenly work with borrowers to modify mortgages or approve short sales has undoubtedly had an effect on the number of foreclosure filings in South Florida," said Peter Zalewski, a principal in CondoVultures, a Bal Harbour, Fla. real estate consultancy.