MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Foreclosures have crippled the South Florida home market since the Great Recession hit and while the rest of the nation has started to show improvement, Florida continues to struggle to recover from the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings decreased in September by 7 percent from August and were down 16 percent from September 11 nationally. The September 2012 numbers were the best national foreclosure numbers since July 2007.

The national decrease was driven by major decreases in non-judicial foreclosure states like California, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Michigan. Several judicial foreclosure states like Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and New York all showed substantial increases in foreclosure activity, according to RealtyTrac.

Florida foreclosure starts in September jumped 24 percent year-over-year which was the 11th consecutive month with an annual increase. Overall, Florida’s foreclosure rate in September was theh highest nationwide for the first time since April 2005.

During the third quarter, RealtyTrac reported a total of 531,576 foreclosure filings, which was a drop of 5 percent from the second quarter and a decrease of 13 percent from the third quarter of 2011. Overall, the third quarter was the ninth consecutive month nationally with an annual decrease in foreclosure activity.