Florida's Foreclosure Nightmare Continues
MIAMI (CBS4) - Let's face it folks, there's no bright side to the nation's latest foreclosure numbers.
In 2010, foreclosures were up in seven out of 10 U.S. cities; nearly half of the country's hardest hit communities were in Florida.
According to a national real estate review of 2010, Florida ended the year as the second worst state in the nation for foreclosures behind California. As the state's unemployment numbers hit double digits, more and more homeowners were unable to make their mortgages.
"It was bad but the foreclosed properties go through fast," Ralph De Martino of the Miami Association of Realtors said. "They get eaten up. The inventory doesn't linger on the market."
Ft. Myers ended the year with the second worst foreclosure rate in the nation, Miami-Dade came in at number five, Orlando at nine and Daytona had the thirteenth worst rate in the nation.
There were more than 171,000 South Florida foreclosure filings in 2010: Roughly one in every 14 properties, still down from 2009. Local analysts say as long as foreclosed properties continue to flood the market home prices will continue to stay low.
"The foreclosures are typically in highly concentrated areas," De Martino said. "In those areas we still might see softening, but we have many areas that see an increase in prices."
Critics charge that the state and federal foreclosure prevention announced last year really haven't helped most struggling families. Until more people get back to work, they say the cycle of unemployment and foreclosures will continue to drag down the local real estate market with no quick fixes in sight.
