Foreclosures Spike in Treasure Coast, Florida

September 22nd, 2008

The rate of foreclosures spiked across the Treasure Coast of Florida according to RealtyTrac.

According to the report 1,611 properties in St. Lucie, Indian River and Martin counties were foreclosed upon in July 2008. This is four times higher than the numbers of the previous year. St. Lucie County led the three counties in the foreclosure rate with 1,184 houses entering the foreclosure zone. In July there had been 296 foreclosed units. Martin County recorded the lowest number among the trio with the numbers increasing to 192 from 70. Indian River County accounted for 235 foreclosure listings in July this year. In 2007 July the number had been 66.

Brad Hunter of Metrostudy based on West Palm Beach opined that more foreclosed houses will be hitting the real estate market with heavily discounted price tags. The banks are poised to foreclose on a chain of houses. Inevitably these crowd into the already swelling numbers waiting in the real estate market. The numbers are showing a tendency of increase and there is little to show that the peak has been reached. The president of the realtor’s association of T. Lucie County, Scott Wingfield echoed these sentiments. Wingfield said, “I wish I could say I am surprised, but I am not. We certainly have a lot of foreclosures in the area.” He explained that this is the primary factor in determining the prices of properties. Right now foreclosures are putting a downward pressure.

RealtyTrac calculates the rank by comparing the household numbers in a zone with the foreclosure numbers. The foreclosure bracket includes all the houses that are in any of the three stages of the judicial process – notices for default and auction as well as bank repossessions. Florida continued to hold on to its rank as one of the top states accompanied by California, Nevada and Ohio. Florida noted the second highest number of foreclosed units in July with the number touching 45,884. It was an increase of 14% from June 2008 and a spike of 139% from July of the previous year. Bank repossessions increased by 678% and auction notices shot up by 180%. Default notices jumped by 100%.

There has been a noticeable jump in bank repossessions contrasting with a sluggish rate of sales. Banks are now sitting with nearly three quarters of a million of houses. It is 17% of the houses in the real estate market waiting to be sold in June.